Where dreams end
by Boy of Enders
Summary: Deep in the heart of the Kilika woods, the Summoner Yuna and her guardians come across a girl who will forever change the nature of the Summoner's pilgrimage. BtVS FFX.
1. Kilika Temple

_My note: this is a rewrite of "Dreams of the Fayth." For those of you that were reading that story, you will notice parts of it are the same, but parts of it are wholly different._

_I am trying to emulate the style of Final Fantasy X more accurately. How should become more or less immediately apparent. Also, I feel that in later chapters "Dreams" wasn't moving the way I wanted it to. Hence…_

_As always, I own none of the people, places, or things, depicted in this story, however that I use them at all indicates only my highest respect for those involved in their creation. On to the story._

**Where dreams end...**   
_1. Kilika Temple_

_It all began when I opened my eyes, and found myself in a world not my own. I can remember feeling confused and alone. It was not the last time I'd feel that way…_   


The girl sitting on the stone steps had been crying; her eyes were red-rimmed, her cheeks tear-streaked. She wore her shoulder-length blonde hair in a messy ponytail, most likely to keep it from her pale face and green eyes. She looked about sixteen. The girl was dressed strangely, wearing a plain black shirt and a pair of tan coloured trousers with big pockets available down the sides. 

Yuna, seeing the girl's distress, immediately moved towards her. "Hello," she said, smiling warmly in an effort to cheer the girl up. 

The girl blinked, eyes that had been distant came to focus on the young Summoner before her, examining her for the briefest moment. Yuna had shoulder-length brown hair, a braid down the left side of her face. She had one green eye and one blue, creating a disconcerting effect, but not an unattractive one. She was dressed in a white top that left her shoulders bare, and a long blue pleated skirt, with a white pattern up one side. Sensible black boots finished the image off. 

"Hi," said the girl. She wiped her tears away on the back of her hand, wiped the back of her hand on her trousers. She tried to return Yuna's smile. 

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked. "Did you lose someone in the attack?" 

"Attack?" The girl asked, a confused frown crossing her face. 

"You get too close to Sin?" Wakka asked. The girl gave Wakka a confused frown. Wakka watched the girl with a concerned look in his eyes. He had flaming red hair, that seemed to defy gravity, and warm brown eyes. He wore tan overalls which left his well-muscled arms and broad shoulder bare for the most part. 

"Sin?" The girl asked. She shook her head, returning her attention to Yuna, who was closest. "I don't understand. I was having a nap and when I woke up all of a sudden I'm in a jungle. I have no idea where I am, and there are these… these things attacking me." 

"Not another one," Lulu said almost inaudibly. The girl frowned, shifting her attention to the black magician. Lulu had dark hair contrasting harshly against her pale skin and violet eyes. She wore a black dress that seemed to defy gravity in places, seemed to be made up of belts and straps in others. 

Sensing it was the right thing to do, Yuna put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "I just want a straight answer," the girl said, sighing in frustration. "Where am I?" 

"This is Kilika island," said Yuna. By the look on the girl's face, this really didn't help her much. Tidus knew how she felt. He came from Zanarkand, which, if he believed what he'd heard so far, was a dead city, and had been for the last thousand years. "I am Yuna, a Summoner from Besaid." 

"My name's Buffy," said the girl. "Buffy Summers. From Sunnydale, California, if that means anything to you." Buffy searched Yuna's face for some reaction. 

"I'm sorry," said Yuna earnestly. "I've never heard of that place." 

"Hey, why don't you come along with is?" Tidus suggested cheerfully. "I'm kinda in the same boat as you. I'm from Zanarkand, so I don't know anything about Spira." Tidus sat down next to Buffy, giving her a grin, trying to cheer her up. "Name's Tidus, star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" 

"I'm Wakka," said Wakka. "And this is Lulu." The black magician nodded a silent greeting. 

"Kimahri," the blue Ronso grunted. Buffy tensed slightly, when she saw him, a reaction that only Tidus caught. Kimahri did look fearsome, but he was small for a Ronso. Kimahri had blue fur and a broken horn on his head. His features reminded a first-time observer of some kind of feline. Kimahri was armoured in various different pieces of armour, giving him a wild look. 

"So how 'bout it, Yuna?" Tidus asked. "We're going to Luca anyway, and she's about as likely to know someone there as me. Why don't we take her along?" 

"Yes," said Yuna, smiling radiantly. "You can come along, if you like." 

"I… Is it okay?" Buffy asked uncertainly. Yuna nodded, still smiling. "I'd like that. Thank you." 

"Alright!" Tidus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Then let's get going!" 

"You forget something, ya? We gotta go up to the temple to pray for victory," Wakka reminded Tidus. Tidus grinned sheepishly; he had indeed forgotten.   


_It seemed so easy back then. Tidus made me feel like everything would work out in the end; in retrospect, I should have known better. I was in an alien world, surrounded by people I didn't know, with customs I didn't understand. Talk about culture shock._   


"These stone steps have a history, you know?" Wakka intoned solemnly. Buffy could tell he was the religious type right then and there. She wondered if people went door-to-door here, handing out religious pamphlets, wherever here was. "Yep. Lord Ohalland trained here at his peak." 

"Trained for what?" Buffy asked. 

"You don't know about Blitz?" Wakka asked incredulously. Buffy shook her head, a little embarrassed. Wakka smiled broadly. "It's only the greatest game in all of Spira!" 

"If you say so," Buffy said, shaking her head. She stood up, and started up the stairs a little way. So Wakka was a sports nut too. She tried to catalogue these things about the people she'd chosen to travel with. 

"You'll see when we get to Luca," Wakka said, clapping her on the back. She stumbled forward a step; she hadn't expected that. "There's a big tournament goin' on there, ya? The Aurochs are goin' to win this year." 

Wakka glanced over at Tidus. "Right!" Tidus said, enthusiastically. Was he a sports fanatic too? Maybe that was something he had in common with Wakka, this "blitz," whatever that was. 

Two young men ran past, laughing, stopping a couple of steps higher up, poised to start running again. They were dressed similarly to Wakka. Maybe Wakka was part of a team or something. 

"A race, huh? Think you can beat me?" Tidus asked, chuckling. He took his place next to his two teammates. Wakka took his place next to Tidus. 

"Yuna, if you would?" Wakka asked. 

Yuna moved up the stairs, past the four racers. She turned around to face them. "Ready?" She asked. She turned and ran up the stairs, laughing. Buffy couldn't help but laugh at the surprised looks on the racers face. 

"Hey!" Tidus exclaimed. He, Wakka, and the two men started up the stairs. Buffy started up the stairs after them, quietly following Lulu and Kimahri. 

"L-look out!" One of the men yelled, running back down the stairs. He was closely followed by his friend. 

"What's his problem?" Buffy wondered out loud. 

"Everyone, quick! Sinspawn!" Wakka yelled. Suddenly, Lulu and Kimahri were running up the stairs. Buffy quickened her pace joining them at the top. The look on her face said it all. 

"What the hell is that?" 

The monster, Geneaux, looked like some kind of bizarre combination of plant and animal, consisting for the most part of a collection of tentacles and a giant gaping maw. 

So this was a Sinspawn. Not exactly what she'd been expecting, but it looked like something she could deal with. Buffy couldn't help but feel a little grateful for that. 

"Stay back," Lulu said, putting a restraining arm on Buffy's shoulder as she moved to attack. 

"But I can help," Buffy insisted. Lulu obviously didn't believe her. Tidus, Yuna, and Wakka fanned out, Lulu and Kimahri waiting and watching from the sidelines. 

Tidus and Wakka were trying to deal with the thing's tentacles, before they had to deal with the Sinspawn's maw, but they weren't having much luck. 

Yuna supported them with curative magic and magic that enhanced their strengths. Even so, the battle seemed to be an uphill one all the way. 

"This is tough," Tidus muttered, hacking and slashing at one of Geneaux's tentacles in an effort to hurt the monstrosity. 

Geneaux roared its outrage, and whipped one of its tentacles in Tidus' direction. He only just managed to dodge out of the way. "I think I made it mad," he said, with a grin. 

Geneaux continued to thrash, whipping its green tentacles all around. Tidus and Wakka were too busy trying to avoid being smashed to notice that Geneaux sent one of its tentacles at Yuna. 

Buffy shrugged Lulu's hand from her shoulder, and ran towards Yuna. She got there a heartbeat before Geneaux's attack did, pulling Yuna to safety. 

"Yuna!" Tidus yelled, realising what happened. 

Buffy rolled to dodge one of Geneaux's follow-up attacks. She scooped up a stone, in her roll, and, coming to her feet, hurled it at the monster. 

The stone hit the Sinspawn right between where she imagined it might have had eyes, stunning it momentarily. That moment was all the time Tidus needed. He leapt into the air, flipping, and brought his sword down with all the power and force he could manage. 

The Sinspawn shrieked as it was cut in two. It seemed to melt, dissolving in a dazzling display of... something. The rainbow-coloured streaks seemed almost insect-like. 

"Is that normal?" Buffy asked uncertainly. She pointed to the rapidly dissipating streaks of rainbow colours. 

"What? The pyreflies?" Wakka asked. 

"Yeah, that's normal as far as I can tell," Tidus said. He moved a hand up and tousled Buffy's hair. She glared at him for it, a fact that only made Tidus grin that much more. "You've got some moves, kiddo." 

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked, turning to Yuna. 

"Yes. Thank you for protecting me," said Yuna, bowing slightly, grateful. 

"So, I'm guessing that whatever that thing was, it was a Sinspawn?" Buffy asked, uncertainly. 

"Yes," said Yuna, smiling warmly. 

"Weird…" Buffy muttered, shaking her head. If that thing was a Sinspawn, then she really didn't want to meet what had spawned it. It sounded like bad news. 

"Sorry about that!" Wakka said, tossing a grin at Tidus. "Hoped to break you in a little slower." 

"Being a guardian's tiring!" Tidus said, still breathing heavily from the fight. 

"You handled yourself pretty well. You got talent," said Wakka. 

"Nah," Tidus dismissed, though Buffy could tell he was pleased with the compliment. He decided to change the subject. "So, what are these Sinspawn anyway?" 

"Fiends," Lulu answered in her cold calm tone of voice. "They fall from Sin's body, and are left behind in its wake." Lulu returned her attention to the young Summoner, fussing over Yuna like an older sister would fuss over a younger sister. 

So if this Sin creature dropped things as big as Geneaux and didn't notice until later, how big did that mean it had to be? "Um, and the fiends? What are they? Are they, like, demons or something?" 

That question earned her an incredulous look from everyone, even Tidus. They probably had fiends in Zanarkand too, Buffy realised. "Don't they have fiends where you come from?" Yuna asked curiously. 

"Not exactly," Buffy said. "I mean we have demons. Lots and lots of different demons, but nothing quite like that. Nothing that vanishes like that." She turned to look for traces of the pyreflies, but they had dissipated already. 

"What's a demon?" Tidus asked. 

"That'd take a while to explain," Buffy said, shaking her head. 

"We better get moving, ya?" Wakka suggested. 

"We don't want to miss the boat to Luca," Lulu added calmly. They started back up the stairs in silence. 

Buffy had been given a lot to think about, but there were still questions in her mind. "So, what's a guardian guard?" She asked. 

"Guardians protect Summoners on their pilgrimages," Yuna explained. 

"And you're a Summoner, right?" Buffy asked. Yuna nodded, smiling at Buffy. "So then these guys are all your guardians?" 

"That's right," Tidus said. 

"Um, why do Summoners go on pilgrimages?" Buffy asked, still sorting through the questions in her head in order of apparent importance. "I mean, what's the reason? Is it some kind of uber-religious thing?" 

"Perhaps you should ask the Temple priest your questions," Lulu suggested, as they reached the end of the stairs. 

The Temple – for that was undoubtedly what it was – was an impressive building, even if it did come across as in a little disrepair. Perhaps the best description for it would be well-serviced ruins. Two spires of what looked very much like coral rose up above the jungle's canopy, and certain parts of the temple looked very much like giant clam shells. 

At the threshold there was a large round crystal. Buffy looked down at it, and saw magical flames burning from within. Looking around, she saw flames like that all around the entrance of Temple at strategic points. 

Inside was a different matter. Inside, the temple had a religious atmosphere. There were large statues of people Buffy had never seen before in a semi-circle, and people were praying to the statues. "Are they gods?" Buffy asked Lulu. 

"You really are clueless, aren't you?" Lulu asked. Buffy frowned slightly, obviously a little annoyed. "Those are the statues of High Summoners." 

"What's a High Summoner?" Buffy asked, her voice conveying the annoyance she felt. 

"High Summoners are Summoners who have defeated Sin," Lulu responded calmly. A look of understanding passed over Buffy's face. She wandered over to one of the statues. It bore a strange resemblance to Yuna, if only in the way that the High Summoner depicted seemed to carry himself with the same sense of quiet purpose. 

"A Summoner, are you?" Buffy glanced around. A woman was descending the stairs from the temple's back chamber, sauntering confidently over to Yuna. She had dark hair and dark skin, and was dressed in a ridiculously revealing outfit, a large bow at her back. 

There was a man with her, a large muscle-bound man. He was dressed mostly in green, with his broad chest and strongly muscled shoulders exposed. Buffy thought the look on his face made him look a little constipated, and she had to stifle a laugh at that thought. 

"My name is Yuna – from the Isle of Besaid," said Yuna, bowing respectfully. 

"Dona," said the other summoner, an air of superiority about her. She glanced around at Yuna's guardians, as they crowded around her. 

"So, you're High Summoner Braska's daughter. That's quite a name to live up to. My, my, my… And all these people are your guardians? My, what a rabble! As I recall, Lord Braska had only two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever were you thinking? I have need of only one guardian. Right, Barthello?" 

The muscle-bound man nodded. 

"Please," said Buffy, a note of contempt in her voice. She'd decided that she didn't like Dona. There was something in her voice that just annoyed the young girl. 

Buffy stepped right up to the man, looking him in the eye as if daring him to make a move. "I could take him. No problem. Then where would you be?" 

Dona cast her a glance but Yuna cut in, before she could respond to Buffy's challenge. "I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust. I trust them all with my life! To have so many guardians is a joy, and an honour!" Yuna said, smiling warmly. "Even more so than being my father's daughter. Of course, I would never think of questioning your ways, either. So, Lady Dona, I ask of you: please leave us in peace." 

"You do what you want. Barthello, we're leaving," said Dona. 

"Lady? Yeah right," Buffy muttered. Tidus nodded his head in agreement. 

"You mustn't act like that," Yuna told Buffy, her tone gently admonishing the younger girl. 

"But…" Buffy started. 

"She's right, eh?" Wakka said. "We don't want no trouble with the Temples." 

"Come with me," said Yuna, taking Buffy by the hand. "I will introduce you to the Temple priest. He can answer any questions you may have." 

"Where are you going to be?" Buffy asked. 

"I must pray to the fayth," Yuna said. 

"The fayth?" Buffy asked. Just another one of her questions that would need answering. Yuna just gave her a patient smile, and led her into one of the side rooms. It was round too, and looked like it was used for a study, or place or meditation, or something. 

"Ah, Lady Summoner," said the man that they found there. He bowed, and did something strange with his hands, which reminded Buffy of some kind of martial-arts-tai-chi move. 

The man was middle-aged, with dark eyes and a bald head. He was dressed in long robes. There were symbols embroidered all over his robes, symbols that Buffy couldn't understand. She wondered if that was their form of writing. 

"I am Yuna, from the island of Besaid," said Yuna, bowing and performing the same set of movements that the priest just did. 

"How may I be of assistance?" The priest asked. 

Yuna nudged Buffy forward, and Buffy felt a little uncomfortable as she came under the priest's examination. "This is Buffy Summers. We found her at the foot of the stairs. She is unfamiliar with our ways, and has many questions to which she needs answers." 

"I will do my best, Lady Summoner Yuna," said the priest, bowing. 

"Thank you," said Yuna, smiling gratefully. She turned to Buffy. "I must go to the Cloister of Trials, but I will be back soon. Please remain here until then." 

"O… Okay," Buffy said. 

Yuna smiled warmly at the young girl, before turning and leaving the way she had come. "Lady Yuna is kind," said the priest. 

"Yeah," said Buffy, nodding her agreement. 

"You have questions?" The priest asked. 

"A lot of them," said Buffy, nodding again. The priest sat down and gestured for Buffy to do the same. A little hesitantly at first, the young girl sat herself down, wondering where she should begin.   


_It hadn't occurred to me, until then, how alien this world was, how little it had in common with my own. It wasn't until then that I really started to miss you guys; it wasn't until then that I really started to realise how much you guys meant to me._


	2. Summoner Basics

_My note: short one this time. Sorry._

**Where dreams end...**   
_2. Summoner Basics_

"Can you explain the Summoners to me?" Buffy asked hopefully. She was travelling with a Summoner for the moment, right? It only made sense that she asked about the Summoners first, in order to better understand the people she was travelling with. "Why do they travel? Why do they need guardians? Is it because of fiends?" 

"You truly are unfamiliar with our ways," the Priest said, a look of understanding on his face. "Very well, I shall attempt to explain the Summoner's pilgrimage." 

"A Summoner and her guardians journey to the sacred city of Zanarkand, where she may receive the Final Aeon with which to defeat Sin," said the priest. 

Buffy nodded. In her head she had an image of Sin as some kind of massive monstrosity, a larger version of Geneaux maybe. It had to be huge, whatever it was, and something that big couldn't possibly be stopped by any means other than magic. So that meant Yuna was some kind of magician. "And the guardians?" 

"Her guardians keep the Summoner safe along the way; it is their duty to protect her from anything that would threaten her pilgrimage," the priest said. "Along her pilgrimage, Yuna will stop at the Temples of Yevon, as all Summoners do, where she may pray to the fayth to strengthen her powers." 

"What's a fayth?" Buffy asked. 

"The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still-living bodies," said the priest solemnly. "Now they live forever trapped in stone." 

"That sounds kinda… dark," Buffy admitted. "Even if they did give their souls up willingly." 

"You have to understand," said the priest. "Sin must be stopped for the people of Spira to live in peace." 

"So you'd sacrifice people's lives to stop Sin?" Buffy asked. She had to admit that she was a little shocked. "Lulu told me that those statues outside are statues of Summoners who already defeated Sin. How does it keep coming back if they beat it?" 

"Sin is our punishment from Yevon for our vanity," the priest intoned solemnly. "It will not disappear until we atone for our sins." 

"And the fayth help you do that? How?" Buffy asked. 

"When a Summoner calls to them, the souls of the fayth emerge once again. That's what we call an aeon," said the priest. "The aeons are our allies in the fight against Sin." 

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Sin's this Yevon guy's idea of punishment, but the same Yevon also gave you the fayth to help beat it?" 

The priest nodded. Buffy shook her head. That didn't really make sense to her. This Yevon guy was obviously some kind of god, that much she was certain of, but more than that she had no idea about. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you with all my questions." 

"That is alright," said the priest. 

"I'm new to this whole Summoner-Yevon-Sin thing," Buffy said, shaking her head.   


_It was true. I was new to the idea of Summoners saving the world – Spira – from the destruction that Sin apparently represented, but the idea of one person taking the weight of the world on her shoulders… That was an intimately familiar idea to me. That's when I started to see Yuna in a new light._   


Half a day passed, in which Buffy didn't see any sign of her new companions. The Temple priest had been kind enough to answer all her questions, even though some of them drew some concerned reactions from the man. 

She learned a lot. For example, some subjects, she learned, were taboo, and people didn't like answering her questions about them.   
  
The young girl got in trouble when she decided that she wanted to go looking for Yuna and her guardians, so she mostly busied herself doing small chores around the Temple. 

Anything to pass the time. At one point she even thought of trying one of those meditative routines that Giles was always going on about, "honing" her inner Slayer or something. 

Thankfully, Yuna interrupted her, just as she was settling down to try. "Did you learn all you wanted to learn?" She asked, smiling. 

Buffy opened her eyes again, looking up at the smiling Summoner standing over her. Yuna looked a little exhausted, but no worse for wear. Buffy wondered what it was like, praying to the fayth; she wondered why it was so exhausting. 

"Yes," said the young girl, answering Yuna's question. "This world's really different from mine, but I think I can deal. At least, until I find a way back to where I belong." 

Yuna sat down next to Buffy. "Tell me about it. Your world, I mean." 

"It's blue. Uh, we have big cities, and, uh, cars, jets, and computers. Haven't seen any of that stuff here." Buffy shook her head, offering Yuna a brief, apologetic, smile. "I'm sorry. I'm not really sure what to say. I've never been asked to describe a planet before." 

"No, I meant Sunnydale, California," said Yuna. 

"Sunnydale? It's a one-Starbucks kinda town," said Buffy, giving her a shrug. "It's built over a, uh, mystical convergence of energies called the Hellmouth. I guess that's like the most defining feature of where I live." 

"What does that mean?" Yuna asked. 

"That's kinda tough to explain," Buffy said uneasily. That wasn't really true. It was really easy to explain, but Buffy wasn't really sure how Yuna would react, and she didn't want to lose her only friends in this world. "Let's just leave it at it's a very bad thing." 

"Okay," said Yuna, nodding and giving Buffy a smile. She stood up again. "We're leaving soon. Are you ready?" 

Buffy kick-flipped herself to her feet. Yuna took a step back, surprised by the display of athleticism. "You bet," she said, smiling at Yuna. Yuna nodded, and turned to leave the room, Buffy following her out. 

Yuna's guardians were waiting for them in the main foyer. "We all set then?" Wakka asked giving both girls a questioning look. Buffy and Yuna nodded. 

"It's off to Luca!" Yuna said cheerfully. 

"Alright!" Tidus said, pumping his fist into the air. As a whole, the group started for the exit. It took Buffy a moment to get used to the brilliant light outside, after having spent half a day inside the comparatively gloomy Temple. 

Yuna was immediately swamped by about a dozen people. She was inundated with their curious questions. Buffy glanced around at her guardians, to see if this was a normal occurrence. Only Tidus looked surprised, and strangely distant. After a moment, he turned and walked towards the stairs. 

Buffy followed him. "So, like, you're from another world too, huh?" She asked, startling the young man from his thoughts. 

"Seems that way sometimes," he said, with an indifferent shrug. She could see the homesickness in his eyes, though, no matter how much he tried to hide it in nonchalance. "I got pulled here by Sin. How 'bout you?" 

"I… don't know how I ended up here," Buffy admitted. She turned her attention out towards the jungle. "Like I said before. I went to sleep, found myself here when I woke up." 

"Hey." Both of them turned around, to see Yuna standing there. Buffy saw the way she was looking at Tidus, and the way he was looking back, and quietly excused herself, joining the rest of the group. "Are… are you okay?" 

"I… I don't know," Tidus answered. 

"What do you want to do?" Yuna asked, a little hesitantly. 

"To scream out loud," Tidus answered with a shrug. Without warning, the young man started yelling. It would have been funny, if Buffy hadn't jumped, so surprised by the sudden outburst.   


_I understood how he felt. I felt the same way… but screaming about it wouldn't have changed anything. I was stuck in Spira, and I needed to find a way home._


	3. Journey to Luca

_My note: writing a philosophy paper right now. More later._

**Where dreams end...**   
_3. Journey to Luca_

Buffy opened her mouth in an involuntary gasp of horror. They'd made their way down the stairs and back through the jungle towards where Yuna told her they would find Kilika port town. What greeted her eyes was not the thriving little port town she had expected. 

The town was in ruins. If she hadn't already been told that Sin had recently attacked, Buffy would've thought that Kilika was hit by a tornado or something, some force of nature. Still, the extent of the damage was evident, almost palpable, in the oppressively depressing mood that hung over the town. 

"Oh god," Buffy muttered, shaking her head. "This is…" 

"Ya," said Wakka sombrely. "Sin came. We weren't able to do a darn thing about it." 

"This can't go on," Buffy whispered, more to herself than to anyone else. Yuna heard her though. She reached out and put a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder. 

"It won't," she said firmly. "I will defeat Sin." 

There was such determination in Yuna's voice. Buffy couldn't help to admire her for it. Yuna was only a year older than Buffy at most, but she carried herself with such a sense of maturity and responsibility. She had chosen such a difficult path to walk, the important word being chosen. 

After her experience with the Master, a cruel vampire who, until recently, ruled Sunnydale's vampire populations with an iron fist, Buffy wasn't sure she'd choose to be the Slayer. Still, even as the Slayer, she'd never faced anything with such blind destructive power on this magnitude. 

As they made their way through what had once been Kilika port town, Buffy got the chance to look around, to become intimately acquainted with the details of Sin's attack. She saw children left orphaned, and parents who'd lost their children. Homes were decimated, little more than driftwood in the soft currents of the tide. It was horrible. 

Yevon, she decided, was not a god she'd get along with. All this was his punishment just for vanity? She hated to think what Yevon would do to her world. 

They came to the docks, to a ship moored there by thick coils of rope. The name on its hull read the S.S. Winno. It was a wooden vessel, and didn't look particularly sturdy to Buffy. It reminded her of a cross between a catamaran and one of those old wooden ships the pilgrims used to get to America, the emphasis on the catamaran. 

"Off to Luca at last! The matches start soon as we get there, so rest up on the way, ya?" Wakka suggested, before moving off towards the back of the boat. 

"Matches?" Buffy asked. Oh yeah. Blitzball, whatever that was. Tidus was on Wakka's team. She'd heard them argue with a different group of players at the Temple. "Oh yeah. Blitzball." 

"Come on," said Yuna, grabbing Buffy by the hand, giving her a warm smile. "I'll explain it to you." 

"Later guys," Buffy called over her shoulder, as Yuna dragged Buffy off towards the front of the ship. 

The two girls settled themselves down on the deck. "What will you do when we get to Luca?" Yuna asked after a little while. Buffy closed her eyes, let herself enjoy the warm sunlight for a moment. 

"I don't know," said the girl, after a moment. She gave a resigned sigh. "Spira is… another world to me. I doubt I'll meet anyone I recognise. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens when we get there." 

"I hope you find someone," said Yuna, smiling warmly. 

"Me too," Buffy said. 

"But… if you don't… you are welcome to come with us," the young Summoner said, again hesitant about the words that she chose. 

Buffy nodded, giving Yuna a grateful smile. "I'd like that."   


_Maybe it was because I saw some of myself in her, weird as that sounds… Maybe it was because I understood some of the pressure she was under, as a Summoner, and I wanted the chance to help her… but… I didn't want to disappoint Yuna._   


"What are you guys talking about?" Tidus asked, walking up to where the two girls were quietly chatting. Buffy couldn't help but notice Yuna's face light up at his arrival. 

"What we're gonna do when we get to Luca," Buffy answered, with a shrug. 

"Gonna watch the Aurochs play?" Tidus asked. 

Buffy glanced over at Yuna. She looked so flustered right then and there, at a loss for words. Yuna just nodded, giving him that smile that she seemed to reserve for him. 

"We'll be there. Front row centre, and all that," said Buffy. She threw her arm around Yuna's shoulders in a show of solidarity. Yuna nodded her agreement. 

Tidus' attention was now completely on Yuna, and what he said next was undoubtedly directed only at her. "If I score a goal, I'll do this." He raised his hand over his head, as though cheering excitedly. "That will mean it was for you." 

"Oh!" Yuna said, trying to think of something to say. 

"Great! She'll be watching for your sign, so you'd better do your best," Buffy said. 

"Oh. Um. Yes," Yuna said, a little embarrassed. She obviously knew what Buffy was up to; Buffy could tell by the embarrassed look on Yuna's face. 

"Will do," Tidus promised. He shook his head, stretched, and yawned loudly. "I better go do what Wakka said, and get some rest, if I wanna be ready for the tournament." With one last look at Yuna, Tidus turned around, and walked back towards the cabin. 

"Why did you do that?" Yuna demanded, a little flustered. 

Buffy shrugged. "I saw the way you looked at him. You like him." She wove her fingers together behind her head and leaned back, enjoying the warmth of the sun again. Yuna blushed furiously, obviously flustered. 

"I… uh…" 

"Relax, Yuna," Buffy said, shaking her head. She really couldn't understand Yuna sometimes. That enigmatic smile of hers didn't help at all, either. "I won't tell him if you don't want me to." 

"Thank you," said Yuna, bowing her head in gratitude. 

"So, you were going to tell me about blitz?" Buffy asked. 

"I'd much rather hear about your world," Yuna said. 

"It's complicated," Buffy responded, shaking her head. Yuna nodded her understanding, though she did look a little disappointed. "I'm sorry. There are just some things that are difficult to talk about. I promise I will tell you. It's just… now's not the right time." 

"I understand," Yuna said, smiling that same enigmatic smile.   


_What was I supposed to say? Yuna had never been anything but unconditionally kind and giving to me. And here I was, keeping secrets from her. I felt awful…_   


Wakka watched the new girl, from the upper deck. Unlike Tidus, she had no connection to Sin at all. She claimed to be from an entirely different world. The multitude of her questions sure did reinforce that idea, but there was something about another world that Wakka found unbelievable. 

"Stop spying," Lulu said, from where she stood beneath the main sail in the shade. 

"I'm not spying," Wakka denied. "I'm just keeping an eye on Yuna." 

"She certainly has grown fond of our two newcomers," Lulu observed, joining him in watching Yuna. Tidus had joined her and Buffy, and the trio were kicking around a blue and white blitzball, laughing happily. 

"I don't like it," Wakka said. "What do we really know about her?" 

"You saw how she acted against that Sinspawn," Lulu said in her cool tone. Wakka nodded. The newcomer's reaction had been nothing short of unbelievable, incredible. "That girl has talent." 

"Yeah, but what do we really know about her?" Wakka persisted. 

"What do we really know about Tidus?" Lulu countered calmly. 

Wakka opened his mouth to say something, but then realised that their situations were very similar. Tidus claimed to be from Zanarkand, a city that Sin destroyed a thousand years ago. Was that story really so much more believable than Buffy claiming to be from another world entirely? 

Wakka couldn't answer that question. When the chips were down, he was a simple man, with a simple way of life, and he understood the universe as it was relative to him. 

"It is Yuna's decision," said Lulu. 

"I still don't like it," Wakka grumbled. 

"You don't have to," Lulu responded coolly. She turned away, and returned to the shade of where she had been standing only moments ago. "You should take your own advice and get some rest before we reach Luca. You want to be well rested for the tournament, don't you?" 

That said, Lulu descended the steps back down to the lower deck, and then to the cabins. Wakka cast one last look at the trio. Tidus was now showing off for them, and the two girls seemed to be enjoying the show. He shook his head, and followed Lulu. 

*** 

"And that's blitz," Tidus finished, giving the two girls a grin. 

"You really hold your breath for five minutes?" Buffy asked. She shook her head. "Wow. That's a long time. Sounds difficult, don't you think so, Yuna?" 

The young Summoner nodded. 

"It's not that tough," said Tidus, shaking his head. The girl gave him a questioning look, wondering what he meant. "There's a trick to it you can't explain. It's not about strength." 

"Well, I'm looking forward to this blitz thing in Luca," Buffy reported. "It sounds a little like water polo to me, but it's gotta be interesting, right?" 

"It is!" Yuna affirmed, with an enthusiastic smile. 

"The Aurochs are taking the cup this year," Tidus added, equally enthusiastically. 

"Right." Buffy turned to see three men. They were dressed in purple and grey, and they looked familiar. It took Buffy a moment, but then she remembered them; this was the other team that Wakka and Tidus had argued with at the Kilika Temple. 

"Ah, I remember him. Guy from Kilika," said one of the men, a dark-skinned man who looked well-built. Buffy supposed as professional athletes, they'd have to be pretty built. 

"Hmm?" asked the leader, a man with flaming red hair and an arrogant expression. His name was Bickson or something. Buffy instantly disliked him. 

"You know, one of the Besaid Aurochs. Said somethin' about winning the cup then too," the dark-skinned man, called Graav, reminded their leader. 

"Oh, right," said Bickson. "You're that idiot." 

"Don't call him that!" Yuna protested. 

"But he is an idiot," the leader insisted. He wasn't winning himself any points here, as far as Buffy was concerned. "They don't got what it takes to win the cup." 

"I don't know," said Buffy. "It might be a lot easier for them, if three players of whatever loser team you belong to didn't make it to the game because they had to swim the rest of the way to Luca." The young girl cracked her knuckles, as if to emphasise her point. 

"Is that a threat?" Bickson asked, sounding mildly amused. 

"You bet it is," Buffy said. 

"Buffy…" Yuna started, but she was cut off when Bickson started talking again. 

"Look everyone! It's one of the Aurochs' half-dozen fans," the leader said, laughing. He turned to Buffy, a smug smirk on his face. "Go ahead, little girl. Take your best shot." 

Yuna's mouth opened and shut. Buffy looked at her for permission. Yuna only had to hear the leader of the other team laugh once again. Her eyes narrowed and she shut her mouth and nodded. 

Buffy hit Bickson, hit him hard. The man went flying a good twelve feet up into the air, before crashing painfully down onto a pile of crates. Buffy wandered over to where Bickson was trying to move. "Who are you calling little?" 

Then she turned around and headed back towards Tidus and Yuna. Bickson's teammates took one look at her and decided it was in their best interests not to start anything they couldn't finish. 

"You really clocked him," Tidus said, surprise more than evident on his face. 

"You could have really hurt him," Yuna admonished gently, though there was a slight smile on her face. 

"He'll be fine," Buffy dismissed. "His ego broke the fall. Besides, he had it coming." 

"What's going on?" Wakka yelled, running up to them. He was a little out of breath. "I just saw the Goers carrying one of their own down below, ya? What happened?" 

"Buffy totally cleaned his clock!" Tidus exclaimed with a grin. 

"Yes," Yuna said, with a slight smile. 

"What did you do that for?" Wakka asked anxiously. 

"I didn't hit him that hard," Buffy protested. 

"He asked for it, Wakka," Tidus pointed out. 

"I know the Goers are jerks," Wakka started wearily. He was trying to sound reasonable, but it was a tough job, made even tougher by the fact that the newcomer was giving him a completely innocent look, very similar to the one Yuna had managed. "But if we go around attacking every one of our opponents, we gonna get disqualified." 

"He really did ask for it, Wakka," Yuna said. 

"Yeah," Tidus agreed. "He said 'take your best shot.'" 

Wakka blinked, not sure he'd heard that correctly. "What if the Aurochs get the blame?" 

"Don't worry," Buffy said with a shrug. "I'm one of the Aurochs' 'half-dozen' fans. I'm not an Auroch, so, you know, I can't get you disqualified." 

"He said we have a half-dozen fans?" Wakka asked, suddenly annoyed. "Why that arrogant… You shoulda hit 'im harder! We gonna do so much better than the Goers this year!" Wakka turned and stormed off, presumably to tell the rest of the team. 

"Wow, that went better than I thought it would," said Tidus. Yuna nodded her agreement. 

"No kidding," Buffy said. "I thought he was going to have a fit or something at first. It just seems to have fired him up that much more." 

"Even so," said Yuna earnestly. "You really shouldn't have hit him." 

"I won't do it again," Buffy promised, rolling her eyes. "Even if he really does ask for it." Tidus laughed. Yuna tried to suppress her laughter at that, but found herself unable to do so. The young Summoner joined Tidus in his laughter.   


_I was learning. Everything in Spira was so different. And, I have to admit, I didn't want to be alone here. I think… that's when I decided to go with Yuna._   


"There it is!" Yuna said, pulling Buffy from her thoughts and tugging on her arm almost like an impatient child. She pointed to the horizon. 

As they grew closer, the city grew in size and detail. Buffy could tell that this was a city unlike any other she had ever seen, unlike anything her world had to offer. The buildings were tall, seemed to flow along organic lines, but were built using simple construction techniques and crude materials. Being a port town, Luca seemed to be based heavily around its port. What's more, there seemed to be a strange building, if it could be called that: a large sphere filling slowly with water. 

"That is where the blitzball tournament will be held," Yuna explained, seeing Buffy study the sphere-pool with a confused look on her face. 

"Oh," said Buffy. 

Tidus jumped up, standing on the railing, hanging on to a rope for support, as the ship pulled into dock number two. A small crowd had gathered, waiting for the players to arrive. Buffy turned to the young summoner, caught her looking wistfully at Tidus' enthusiasm. 

"Let's go check out the town." The young summoner nodded, and watched as Buffy walked over to the gangplank, pushing Bickson hard on her way down. The Blitzer was thrown into the water, and came up a moment later, sputtering for breath. 


	4. Trouble in Luca

_My note: to answer the rhetorical question: yes, yes, I do hate philosophy papers very much._

**Where dreams end...**   
_4. Trouble in Luca_

On disembarking from the boat, Buffy found herself swept by in a crowd of people pushing past her, both anxious to see the young Summoner and eager to see their favourite Blitz team. Luca, it turned out, was home turf to the Goers, and they had a strong following here. 

There was limited cheering when the Aurochs marched down the gangplank. Buffy thought she heard someone scream Wakka's name in the background. It was really true: the Aurochs didn't have that many fans. 

"Wow, they really must suck," Buffy muttered, shaking her head. 

"Don't say that!" Yuna protested, a fierce look in her eyes. "The Aurochs play with all their hearts, and that is all that matters." 

"We'll be the only ones cheering for them," Buffy said, shaking her head. She shrugged, an indifferent gesture. "I guess that means we'll just have to cheer extra loud." 

"Right!" Yuna said, that determined smile on her face. 

Suddenly, the crowd picked up again, pulling the two girls away towards another one of the docks. She looked around, at the people all around her, at the looks on their faces. They were eager for something, excited even. 

"What's going on?" Buffy asked Tidus, who, like her, seemed to be being drawn along by the crowd. 

"Maester Mika has arrived!" Yuna supplied excitedly. 

"What's a Maester?" Buffy asked. 

"Mika? Maester?" Tidus asked, at the same time. They glanced at each other, sharing their confusion. 

"Maester Mika is the leader of all the people of Spira," Lulu explained calmly. "He's come all the way from Bevelle. The tournament is being held to honour his fifty years as maester." 

"Fifty years?" Tidus asked. "Shouldn't he be, uh, retired by now?" 

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. She looked over at Lulu with a questioning look on her face. "Do they have retirement homes in Spira?" 

"Hey!" Wakka said. "Mind your mouth, now." 

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever." The group came to dock three, one over from where their own ship was docked. The dock was already crowded with anxious people, waiting to get a glimpse of Mika. "You'd think they were waiting for a rock star or something," Buffy told Tidus conversationally. 

"I know," Tidus agreed quietly. He craned his neck, trying to see over the crowd. "Can't see a thing," he said, frustrated. 

"Quiet, you two," Wakka said, his tone admonishing them. 

"Gee teach, everyone else is talking," Buffy said sarcastically. It was true, there were people in the crowd, conversing amongst themselves. Apparently something was going on. Buffy heard mention of a Guado, whatever that was, but she was too short to see. She jumped, hoping to catch a glimpse of the action. 

"Isn't that Maester Seymour?" 

There was a man, if he could be called that, standing at the bottom of the gangplank. He was dressed in curiously voluminous purple robes that left his tattooed chest bare. The man had long spiky azure hair, and there was something about his eyes that Buffy just didn't like. 

Maester Seymour performed a prayer. The crowd prayed as well, though the only reason she knew that they were praying and not starting up on some kind of martial arts routine was because Yuna had been so kind as to explain it to her. She and Tidus stood out like sore thumbs, the only ones not praying. 

"People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome," said another voice. From the top of the gangplank an ancient-looking man appeared. 

Buffy was instantly on edge. There was something completely wrong with him; she just couldn't put her finger on what it was. The man had white hair and a short trimmed beard. His ancient skin was brown and tan. The man was dressed in long robes, which, while completely different from Maester Seymour, bore some of the same intricately embroidered symbols. This had to be Maester Mika. 

"Rise, Maester Seymour. And all of you as well. I present to you… the son of Maester Jyscal Guado, who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past," said Mika. "As some of you already know, he has been officially ordained a Maester of Yevon." 

"What's this Farplane stuff?" Buffy whispered to Tidus. "And who's this Jyscal guy?" 

Wakka smacked her in the shoulder, gesturing for her to be quiet. 

"I am Seymour Guado," said Maester Seymour in a voice that, to Buffy, sounded discordant. "I am honoured to receive the title of Maester. In life, my father Jyscal worked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy, and to fulfil my duties as Maester to the best of my abilities." 

"Acceptance speech," Buffy muttered. Tidus nodded. 

"Bow your heads!" Wakka hissed at them. 

The crowd, including a reluctant Buffy and Tidus, bowed their heads, and remained that way until the two Maesters departed, surrounded by their honour guard. 

"Really psyches you up, ya?" Wakka asked. 

"About as much as a lecture from my mom," Buffy answered sarcastically. He'd been on her case ever since they left Kilika, giving her suspicious looks whenever he thought she wasn't paying attention. 

Wakka sent a disapproving look at Buffy before turning to his team. "All right! Last meeting before the match! Hustle!" 

Yuna drew closer to Buffy as Tidus moved off towards the team meeting. "Did you see anyone in the crowd that you recognised?" Yuna asked. 

"No, but that Mika guy gave me the creeps," Buffy answered. 

"You mustn't talk like that," Yuna said seriously. "Maester Mika is a great man." Buffy studied the young Summoner's features for a moment, before nodding. Yuna smiled. "I know you're unfamiliar with our ways, Buffy, and I don't want you to get in trouble." 

"I'll try my best, m'lady Summoner," said Buffy, with a grin. "But I don't guarantee anything. All this is pretty new to me, so…" She looked around, examining her surroundings in depth. "I'm gonna go look around. Is there some time I should meet back up with you guys?" 

Buffy reached into her pocket, pulling out a digital watch. Yuna's eyes widened in disbelief. "Put that away!" She said in a hushed but urgent tone of voice. "Machina are forbidden by the teachings of Yevon," she said. 

"It's just a watch," Buffy said innocently. "All it does is tell time." 

"Regardless, machina are forbidden. If someone sees you, you could be in very deep trouble," said Yuna. She smiled at Buffy comfortingly. After a moment, Buffy nodded, and slipped her watch back into her pocket. 

"I'll try my best to stay out of trouble," Buffy promised. 

"If you need to find us, just ask someone to direct you to the Aurochs," said Yuna. Buffy nodded her understanding, before turning away, disappearing into the crowd. 

*** 

Buffy made her way through the crowded streets of Spira's second largest city, stopping here and there to admire the scenery. There was nobody she recognised here, but she already knew that she wouldn't meet anyone she knew. 

Instead, she found herself shopping, mostly for something that would let her blend in a little more. For some reason, the things that had attacked her in Kilika woods carried money, left it behind after she beat them. She was checking out a cool jacket, yellow, blue, and black and all pockets, when she saw Yuna in the crowd. 

The young Summoner was half following and half being pulled by a strange pair of men, dressed in strange clothing, even for the people of Spira. "Excuse me," she said. The stall keeper, a bright old woman, looked up. "Who are they? Those two guys with the Summoner?" 

The old woman followed Buffy's line of sight, saw the young Summoner and the two men. "They are Al Bhed," the woman said, her tone of voice indicating her distrust of the two. "Why her ladyship would associate with them, I don't know." 

"So, they're bad news?" Buffy asked. 

"The worst. They use machina forbidden by the teachings," said the woman. Buffy considered this, then considered the watch in her pocket. Was it really so bad using machines? Nothing had happened in her world, but then this was a different world. 

"I'll take the jacket," she said, picking up the jacket that she had been considering. She handed the stall-keeper the money for the jacket, then pulled it on over her shoulders. "Thanks. Have a nice day." 

Buffy turned away, slipped easily into the crowd. She followed Yuna as she was lead away by the two men, followed the young Summoner to dock number four. She saw the young Summoner board the ship, the only metal vessel docked in Luca, pushed up the gangplank by the two Al Bhed. 

"This looks fishy," she said to herself, a smirk touching her lips. Yuna asked her to stay out of trouble, but this had to be an exception, right? The Summoner was being kidnapped, by the looks of it. 

The girl followed the Summoner onto the ship. "Yuna! Where're you going?" Buffy called out, startling the two Al Bhed. They spun around, and opened fire. 

Buffy had only just enough time to dive out of the way, finding cover behind a stack of crates. "Buffy!" Yuna yelled, concerned. 

"We might be a little late for the game, Yuna!" Buffy called out from behind her cover. She poked her head out cautiously. The action was immediately rewarded, as the two Al Bhed men started shooting again. 

"I hate it when I get shot at," Buffy muttered, through clenched teeth. The Al Bhed stopped shooting. She heard one of them edging around the stack of crates. 

Every muscle in her body tensed. She saw the barrel of the gun, and she knew it was her time to move. The young Slayer launched herself from her cover, grabbing the gun from the Al Bhed man. She twisted, until the man was forced to either let go, or lose the use of his arm for several months while the bone healed. 

The man let go of the gun. Buffy smashed the handle across the Al Bhed man's jaw, hard enough to knock the man out. Buffy was across the deck in the time it took the man to crumple to the ground. 

It wasn't fast enough. 

The other Al Bhed had his gun pressed tightly to Yuna's temple. "Not another step." 

"Yuna!" There was nothing Buffy could do, and she knew it. Buffy raised her hands, with a defeated sigh. Suddenly, Yuna jammed her foot into the Al Bhed man's foot, then pulled herself free from him as his grip faltered. She swung her rod like a club, and hit the man hard enough to knock him out. "Whoa! Way to go Yuna!" 

"Thank you," said Yuna, blushing at the compliment. "You were incredible, yourself." 

"It's nothing," Buffy dismissed, with the wave of her hand. Still, she had to admit that she was pleased with the compliment. Shaking her head, she looked around to get a feel for her situation. "These guys went to a lot of trouble to kidnap you, and this boat doesn't exactly look like a three-man dinghy. Let's get out of here before anything else can go wrong." 

"I agree," said Yuna. 

Before either of them could move another step, something happened. The deck beneath their feet trembled. A large trap door that Buffy hadn't noticed before opened. A large robot rose up from the metal ship's hold. 

"Sometimes I really hate when I'm right," Buffy told Yuna. 

"I can see why," the young Summoner said, nodding her agreement and still looking a little surprised at the appearance of the machina weapon. 

Buffy wrenched a length of pipe almost taller than she was from a nearby railing, and brandished it. "Alright, Yuna. Stay behind me. Things are about to get a little rough." 

The machine started to move, giant cog-like wheels whirring faster than Buffy's eyes could follow, causing sparks of static electricity to ground themselves harmlessly on the deck. Suddenly, it moved, firing a volley of blue and white balls at Yuna. 

"Look out!" Buffy called. She wrapped her arms around Yuna, taking the hits herself. Buffy stumbled, but managed to catch herself before she fell to the deck. 

Buffy gasped, clutching her side with one hand, her makeshift staff with the other. The machine seemed to be reloading for another volley. Buffy readied herself, grasping her staff firmly with two hands. 

The machine fired. Buffy dodged one ball, smashed another out of the way. The third glanced off her shoulder, spun her around. 

"Buffy, let me help," Yuna said, her voice quiet but forceful. She closed her eyes, held her staff tight, concentrating. "Cure!" 

Buffy felt a warmth flowing through her body, fixing all the minor aches and pains she felt. Her side still hurt, but the pain had been reduced to a dull throb. "We shall beat it together," Yuna said. 

"Right," Buffy said, with a determined nod. She readied herself for another volley and wasn't disappointed. Buffy managed to dodge the first two blitzballs sent her way and smashed the third away from Yuna with her staff. "I don't suppose you have any, uh, magic that would deal with this thing, huh?" 

"I can summon, but it will require all my concentration. I won't be of any help to you," Yuna said. 

Buffy shook her head. Yuna needed to be concentrated on the fight for the moment. Buffy smashed another blitzball back towards the Oblitzerator. She tightened her grip on her makeshift staff and widened her stance. 

The machine fired another round at them. Buffy batted the first two aside, and then smashed the third ball right back at the machine menace. The ball shot back into the hole it had come from. The machine began to falter, black smoke issuing from the hole. 

"Hole-in-one!" Buffy grinned victoriously. 

The young girl jumped forward, used her staff to vault on top of the Oblitzerator. She raised it over her head, looking at the two quickly spinning gears, timing her attack. Buffy plunged the metal staff into the machine's gears. It struck with a shower of sparks. 

The Oblitzerator groaned threateningly, started shaking underneath Buffy's feet. Wide-eyed, Buffy realised what was about to happen. 

"Uh-oh…" Buffy muttered. She jumped from the monstrosity, and ran towards Yuna. "Get down!" Buffy yelled, diving behind a stack of crates. Yuna ducked behind another stack. 

The Oblitzerator exploded thunderously, sending shrapnel hurtling across the surroundings. A plume of black smoke rose up from its burning remains. Buffy poked her head out cautiously. 

"I think it's safe to come out now," Tidus said with an even tone of voice. 

"Uh, hey guys," Buffy said, suddenly self-conscious. Okay, so it wasn't the most graceful win, but a win was a win all the same. "When did you get here?" 

"We learned that the Al Bhed kidnapped Yuna," said Lulu. She looked directly at Yuna. "We were coming to rescue you. I hope you hurt them." 

"A little," Yuna admitted, smiling slightly. 

"You would make a worthy guardian," Lulu told Buffy. "How did you get to be so fast?" 

"That's a little complicated," Buffy said, shaking her head. 

"What is it?" Yuna asked Tidus, cutting off whatever questions Lulu might have asked next. Tidus was looking around at the ship, scrutinising it for some weird reason. Buffy wondered what he was looking for. 

"There were these Al Bhed that saved my life when I first came to Spira," Tidus said, still looking around the ship. "They took me on their ship, even gave me food. I was kinda hoping this was the same ship. But it's not. I wonder if they're all gone." 

"What happened?" Yuna asked, obviously concerned for some reason. 

"Sin came up near us," Tidus answered. "I made it out okay, but I don't know what happened to their ship." 

"Um, was there anyone called Cid on that ship?" Yuna asked, her voice once again hesitant. 

"I don't know," Tidus admitted with a shrug. "They were all speaking that Al Bhed language." 

"I see…" Yuna said, sounding disappointed and relieved at the same time. Her eyes took on a distant look, as though she was lost in thought. 

"Spira to Yuna," Buffy said, waving her hand in front of the young Summoner's eyes. "How come you wanted to know? Who's this Cid guy anyway?" Tidus nodded, giving Yuna a curious look. 

Yuna blinked, her attention focused again on there here and now, first on Buffy and then on Tidus. "He's my uncle, but I've never actually met him," Yuna answered a little hesitantly. 

"Wait, that means you're Al Bhed, too, Yuna?" Tidus asked, confused. 

"Can't put anything past you huh, genius?" Buffy asked, her voice clearly sarcastic. 

"I am," Yuna said, nodding. "On my mother's side. Cid is my mother's brother. He became distant after my mother married. But she told me to seek him out if I ever needed help." Yuna looked away, a worried look flashing across her face. 

"You're worried he was…?" Tidus started. Buffy elbowed him sharply in the ribs, shutting him up before he could finish that question. 

"I'm sure if he was on that boat that he got out okay," Buffy said, trying to reassure Yuna. Yuna offered the young Slayer a grateful smile for her efforts. 

"Don't tell Wakka about Yuna's lineage," Lulu said. "The thing about Wakka – he never had much love for the Al Bhed." 

"Whoa," said Tidus. "I gotta tell Wakka!" 

"What did she just tell you?" Buffy asked, smacking Tidus in the back of the head. She rolled her eyes. "It's like you weren't listening at all." 

"The game!" Yuna realised. 

"Oh!" Lulu said. She concentrated, gathering some of her magical energy. She sent it up into the air, exploding brilliantly all across the sky, a marker that would no doubt be seen all across town. Then, the group turned and started back towards the dome…   


_I'd had my first encounter with the Al Bhed. I didn't know what to think, to be honest. I'd learned about the Al Bhed at the Temple. According to Yevon they were partly responsible for perpetuating Sin's reign of terror, because they used machina – machines… I started to wonder… Even in Kilika, Yevon's teachings didn't agree with me…_   


Yuna found herself watching Buffy intermittently throughout the championship game, between the Aurochs and the Goers. There was something about the younger girl, a secret that she kept to herself. Yuna had to admit that she was curious about what that secret was, even if she had decided not to pry. 

The more she watched Buffy, the more she became convinced of the hidden power her friend possessed. It was evident, even now, in the manner in which Buffy carried herself, the way she stood, the way she interacted with others. It was certainly evident in the way she fought, with unreal strength and speed.   
  
The Aurochs had just played an excellent game, beating the Goers by two points to win the cup. Buffy loved the game. She certainly cheered loud enough. The players were making a final lap around the pool. 

"When you explored Luca, did you… did you meet anyone you recognised?" Yuna asked after the game was over. 

"No," Buffy answered, shaking her head in dismay. "I didn't recognise anything either. Everything on Spira's so… bizarre. Well, to me anyway. But then, I gotta admit, I wasn't really expecting to see anyone I knew." 

"In that case, I would like to ask you something," Yuna said, her voice quiet and serious. Buffy gave her a curious once-over, wondering what was bothering the young Summoner. 

"Sure, go ahead," Buffy said, nodding her head. 

Yuna had been thinking about the question for some time now. She wondered about the answer, wondered how she could present the question. 

"You've saved my life twice now, at the risk of your own," Yuna said, her voice hesitant. Buffy opened her mouth to say something, but Yuna stopped her, raising her hand. "I want you to… consider becoming my guardian." 

"Are… are you serious?" Buffy asked, looking around, as if trying to spot the joke. 

"Yes," Yuna said, bowing apologetically. "I will understand if you do not want to, but…" 

"Of course," Buffy said, smiling warmly. "It sounds corny, but I'd be honoured to be your guardian, Yuna. Besides, we're friends, right?" 

Yuna nodded, smiling warmly. "Well, friends… they look out for each other." 

Almost as if on cue, chaos overran the stadium. People fled, screaming, in every direction. Someone had released fiends! Buffy caught sight of Tidus and Wakka being attacked in the sphere pool by a couple of fishy-looking critters. 

"What's happening?" Lulu asked rhetorically. 

"I'm thinking someone's trying to get a lot of people killed," Buffy said, landing an uppercut on a passing fiend. The fiend was thrown thirty feet into the air, landing with a bone-crunching impact. It burst into a display of pyreflies. 

Lulu cast a fire spell at a fiend rushing towards them. The fiend burst into flames, then into pyreflies, before it could ever come close to the Summoner's party. 

"This sucks," Buffy muttered, landing a kick to one fiend, then immediately turning to punch another. It was pandemonium. People were running and screaming. And dying. And someone had released fiends into a populated place. How could anyone do such a thing? 

"Stand back. I'll summon," Yuna said, clasping her staff close. 

The sky suddenly went dark, cloudy. A huge anchor shot down, buried itself in the suddenly dark ground. The thick metal chain started to retract, pulling back foot by foot. A huge monstrosity was pulled up by the chain. It was completely chained up. The chains held the monster sandwiched between two green-brown leaf-like structures, almost reminiscent of something trying to squeeze out of a Venus flytrap. 

"Uh, good job," Buffy commented. She had to remember to close her mouth, which had fallen open. "You, uh, you do have complete control over that thing, right?" 

"That isn't my aeon," Yuna said. She looked around, until she saw Maester Seymour standing, watching over the scene. "It's Maester Seymour's!" 

"He's, uh, got control, doesn't he?" Buffy asked uncertainly, edging away from the very large, very dangerous-looking, aeon. 

The aeon started to fire what looked like bolts of energy, efficiently picking off the fiends in the crowd. It didn't miss even one. The aeon vanished in a swarm of pyreflies. Buffy looked around. There were no more fiends left in the stadium; the place was clear. 

"Maester Seymour's aeon was so powerful," Yuna gasped, as it vanished in a cloud of pyreflies. Her voice was filled with awe and wonder. 

"I'll say," Buffy muttered. Wasn't it lucky that he was here to summon that thing? She shook her head; such thoughts were counter-productive. "Okay, so the monsters are gone, the Aurochs won the cup, I say we party," Buffy suggested, grinning broadly. 

"Is that Sir Auron?" Lulu asked, ignoring Buffy. 

Buffy, for her part, frowned, turned her attention in the direction in which the black magician was looking. She could just make out the figures of Tidus and Wakka in the distance, and a man dressed entirely in red, wielding a big sword, but that was about it. 

"Yes! Yes, I think that is Sir Auron!" Yuna exclaimed. 

"Um, who's this Auron guy?" Buffy asked. She was fixed with incredulous looks from everyone around her, and Yuna was reminded once again of how little her new friend actually knew about Spira. She couldn't help but smile… 


	5. On the Mi’ihen Highroad

_My note: If I recall correctly, this is the same cliffhanger I had last time. It shouldn't come as such a great surprise this time, but it felt wrong not having it in the story.___

_Thanks go to Selina for pointing out my translation error with Rin's Al Bhed. Glad I've got people to keep me on my toes._

**Where dreams end...**   
_5. On the Mi'ihen Highroad_

_You know the saying: no rest for the wicked? Well, I guess we're wicked then, because we got ready to leave right away, with only a short break for Wakka to wish his Aurochs good luck in the blitz season. The life of a pilgrim, I guess…_   


"Do you think he's gonna stay here?" Wakka asked. The group stood on a ridge overlooking the town of Luca. From here, they could see the somewhat tall spires of the buildings, the colourful signs of shops, and even the Sphere pool, in the distance. It was almost as if they were saying a silent goodbye to the town as they stood there looking out over it. 

There was an air of tension evident in Yuna and her guardians. It was understandable. Even now, it was perfectly obvious that Yuna was falling in love with Tidus. Well, to Buffy anyway. She wondered if the others had noticed yet. 

"Sir Auron knows him, apparently," said Lulu. She cast Wakka a sidelong glance. "You were right. He did meet someone he knew." 

"Do you think he'll find a way back to Zanarkand?" Yuna asked. There was a note of hope in her voice, hope for a friend, but also an undercurrent of sadness. Her guardians looked uncertain. Wakka shrugged and Lulu looked away. 

"In any case, I'll miss having him around," Wakka said. 

"He's still in town," Buffy piped up. "You could always go see him before we go." 

"I think I'll do that," said Yuna, turning back to town. "Oh!" 

Tidus arrived, followed shortly by the man in red. Tidus looked a little reluctant to be there, stopping just short of Yuna. Buffy wondered what was wrong. What had happened to cause this reluctance? 

Her eyes moved to the man in red and a cold shiver ran down her back. The muscles in her body tensed involuntarily. There was something so unnatural about this man, like he wasn't even human. He'd seen action though, and whatever he was, he'd seen a lot of it. The man was dressed in black armour underneath a red cloak. There was a large bottle of what was probably liquor, hanging from his waist, and he carried a massive sword. 

Auron's face was what intrigued Buffy. Framed by short dark hair going steadily grey, the man's face reminded Buffy of a disillusioned war hero. His eyes were cold, almost dead, half-hidden behind a pair of dark glasses. He hadn't shaved, and it gave him a coarse look. 

"Whoa," Wakka gasped, his voice filled with awe. 

"Sir Auron?" Yuna asked, similar reverence in her voice. 

"Yuna," Auron said, his tone cool. 

Again Buffy shivered. Only Tidus seemed to notice, the others too intent on Auron. There was something off about Auron's voice too, a subtle note of discord that Buffy picked up on subconsciously. 

"Sir?" Yuna asked. 

"I wish to become your guardian," Auron said. "Do you accept?" 

"You serious?" Wakka asked, astonished. 

"You refuse?" Auron asked. 

"No, no!" Yuna said quickly. "We accept! Right, everyone?" She glanced around to see if there were any voices of dissent. Buffy shrugged. She'd watch her back, and Yuna's too, around Auron. Something about the man gave her the creeps in the biggest way. 

"O-of course! No problem at all!" Wakka said, just as quickly as Yuna spoke. 

"But… why?" Lulu asked, a note of curiosity in her otherwise impassive voice. 

"I promised Braska," Auron said simply. 

"Right, 'cause you were Yuna's dad's guardian too. Makes sense, I guess," Buffy said. Auron gave her an appraising look, before nodding a moment later. 

Auron pushed Tidus forward, towards the group. "And… he comes too," Auron said. 

"Hi… guys. Eh… howdy!" Tidus said nervously. 

"This one I promised Jecht," Auron explained. He moved off to converse with Yuna and the other guardians. Buffy didn't feel like joining, so she stayed back. Tidus walked over to her, his reluctance still evident. 

"So, Yuna made you a guardian too?" Tidus asked. 

"Yeah," Buffy answered, with a shrug. "Don't really know what I bring to the group, but I guess we'll see, right?" They lapsed into silence. "So, who's Jecht?" 

"My old man," Tidus answered, his voice hard, filled with hatred. 

"Oh," Buffy said, not oblivious to the other guardian's tone of voice. "Touchy subject?" She asked. Tidus nodded, his eyes distant. "Sorry. Didn't mean to bring it up." 

"It's not your fault," Tidus said after a moment. "It's just… you ever had something sprung on you that just… I don't know… catches you completely off guard? I feel like I've been dropped in the middle of something way too big for me. And now Auron tells me…" 

"What? What did he tell you?" Buffy asked after a moment. 

"Nothing. Never mind," Tidus said, shaking his head. "I saw you react when Auron started talking. Want to talk about it?" 

"What's to talk about? The guy gives me the creeps. I don't know why. It's kinda like that Mika guy before. Something's just… wrong with them. You know?" 

"Uh…" Tidus started. 

"You don't know," Buffy concluded. Tidus grinned despite himself. 

"Hey you two!" Yuna said, laughter in her voice. "What are you talking about?" 

"Nothing," Tidus and Buffy said in unison. 

Yuna gave them a look of mock suspicion. After a moment, the three of them broke down into laughter. "Too funny!" Yuna said, after she managed to stop. Buffy just grinned at the young Summoner. So did Tidus. 

"Um… thank you," Yuna said, her serious tone coming back. "I want my journey to be full of laughter." 

"Okay," Tidus said. 

"We can do laughter," Buffy said, giving Yuna a warm smile. 

"If we should get separated," Yuna told Tidus, a little hesitantly. "Just whistle. I'll come running. I promise." She put her hands in her mouth and whistled, smiling proudly at Tidus. "Well then, alright. Now we will go to the temple of Djose. And guardians? Don't forget to smile!" 

The group started off. Buffy threw her arm around Yuna, as they walked on, pulling the young Summoner closer. "Way to go," she whispered in a conspiratorial tone of voice. "You made the first move. Good for you!" 

"Oh… I… I mean… Oh!" Yuna said, flustered. 

"Just a couple more hints like that, and you'll be ready to go on your first date," Buffy said, grinning ear to ear. 

"What are you two talking about?" Tidus asked, pausing from up ahead. 

"Nothing," Yuna and Buffy responded in unison. They glanced at each other, and broke down into a fit of laughter…   


_I shared Yuna's hope; I wanted the journey to be full of laughter. Losing myself in laughing with my new friends… It was almost like being back home, with you guys._   


The Mi'ihen Highroad was pleasant enough, like a very long stroll through the park as far as Buffy was concerned, during daylight hours of course. The landscape was endlessly green, dotted with strange-looking ruins here and there. They must have been the ruins of cities that Sin destroyed, Buffy reasoned. She learned from Wakka about the ancient machina cities that the monster wiped out. 

They walked for a long while at a relaxed pace. You'd never have guessed that Yuna's mission was such an urgent one. Occasionally a chocobo – a giant yellow bird indigenous to Spira – would run past, carrying its rider quickly to his or her destination, but other than that, there didn't seem to be a whole lot going on. 

Tidus stopped at one of the ruins. He looked up at it, a tall spire of intricately carved stone. Buffy had to wonder if it reminded him of home. He was supposed to be from a world not too different from one where this spire would have been a magnificent building. 

An old man approached, dressed entirely in green. He had a white beard and his eyes were hidden behind thick spectacles. He reminded Buffy a lot of those priests from her world that dressed up with the pointy hats. 

"Do you know what those ruins are from?" The old man asked Tidus. 

"Some old city?" Tidus guessed. 

"Correct. A city most ancient! A terrible testament to Sin's power. I tremble every time I see them. Compared to Sin, humans are mere mudpuppies!" The old man said. 

"But I believe humans are the only ones capable of defeating Sin," Yuna said solemnly. Buffy nodded her agreement. In her experience, evil tended to underestimate humanity. 

"A good reply. I am relieved to hear you say that, m'lady summoner. Where are my manners? I am Maechen, a scholar. At your service, m'lady." The old man bowed deep in respect. 

"I am on a journey, studying the history of our world, Spira, seeking its stories and secrets… My travels have taken me to many places, and I am troubled by what I seen. Fragile smiles on people's faces crumbling at the mere mention of Sin. They are counting on you, m'lady. Give them a reason to rejoice once more." 

"I will," Yuna promised. 

"No pressure, Yuna," Buffy whispered sarcastically. Yuna just smiled at her, that same smile Buffy had such trouble understanding. 

The nearby grass rustled, and suddenly a trio of fiends, Mi'ihen Raptors, leapt out to attack them. Buffy pushed Maechen back, and stepped up, ready and more than willing to do her share of the work. 

"Perhaps you had better leave this up to more experienced guardians," Auron said, taking his place in the line. 

Tidus jumped energetically into place, unsheathing his sword. "Oh yeah!" He yelled enthusiastically. 

"I can take care of myself," Buffy grumbled. She dropped into an easy stance, hands up, ready for anything. Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri hung back, in case anyone needed help, but really, this fight was going to be over before it even started. 

Buffy launched herself at one of the fiends. Before the monster even realised what was happening, the young girl landed a devastating punch, cracking its skull open and throwing it though the air. It burst into pyreflies before it even hit the ground. 

"Who needs experience, when I've got strength and speed?" She asked, delivering a bone-crushing blow to another of the fiends. It yelped before collapsing, breaking down into pyreflies much as a vampire turned to dust. 

Tidus screamed, lashing out with his sword. Buffy turned. The sword stopped just inches from Buffy's nose. She blinked. The third fiend turned into a swarm of pyreflies. "You missed one," Tidus said, smirking. 

"Geez, trying to give me a heart attack or something?" Buffy asked, smacking him playfully on the shoulder. She turned to Auron. "I didn't see you doing anything out there. Maybe you were better back in your prime, huh, gramps?" 

"Show some respect," Wakka admonished. 

But Auron didn't care, a fact that annoyed Buffy just a little. He just chuckled. "Maybe." 

"That was most impressive," Maechen commented. 

"We try," Tidus said, grinning. Maechen bowed, turning away towards another one of the ruined spires. Tidus turned and rejoined the group. They moved on, Tidus and Yuna walking next to Buffy. 

"Are we there yet?" Buffy grumbled after a while. "My feet are killing me." 

She wasn't used to all that walking. And the scenery, while beautiful, was beginning to get a little boring. They walked on in silence for what seemed like hours, passing and endless number of grassy hills, occupied by broken ruins. 

It was really little hard on her feet. The sixteen-year-old wished she'd brought along a pair of shoes that offered some support. She really did. 

As she was contemplating her choice of footwear, three mounted chocobos careened past, barely missing her. "Hey! I'm walking here!" She yelled. 

The lead rider pulled her chocobo to a halt, turning around. She had bright red hair and caramel-coloured skin. She was dressed in outrageous purple armour that more closely resembled lingerie. "Lady Summoner, I presume?" She asked. 

"Yes," Yuna said. "I am Yuna." 

"I am Lucil, captain of the Djose Chocobo Knights," said the mounted woman, offering Yuna a crisp salute. 

One of her companions spoke up, a woman of similar description, the only difference being that her hair was darker and her armour a brilliant red. "And I'm Elma. We've been charged to guard the Highroad." 

"Bang up job they're doing too, what with that fiend attack just now," Buffy whispered sarcastically to Tidus. He suppressed a chuckle. 

Lucil spared her an annoyed glance, before turning back to the young Summoner. "There have been reports of a large fiend appearing in this area, with a taste for chocobos. Do take care, Summoner Yuna, if you are to rent any chocobos." 

"Thank you," Yuna said, smiling gratefully. "We will be careful." She performed a prayer of thanks, and Buffy was again given the impression of someone beginning a martial arts routine. 

"Good," Lucil said. "We should get back to our rounds. Farewell." 

"Our prayers are with you," Elma told Yuna. With that, the Djose Chocobo Knights rode off. Buffy watched them go for a moment. 

If they could rent those big birds, it was definitely something she wanted to do. It wasn't every day you got to ride a big yellow bird, and besides her feet were killing her. When she turned back, Tidus had a thoughtful look on his face. 

"A large fiend…" He muttered. "Let's go get him!" 

"Why?" Auron asked, his voice dead as ever. 

"It's the right thing to do," Tidus answered. 

"It's the right thing to do?" Auron asked. He started laughing for no apparent reason. Tidus looked around at his companions, to see if they had any idea what he was laughing about. None of them did. 

"What'd I say now?" Tidus grumbled, annoyed. 

"Jecht said that a lot, too. And every time he said it, it meant trouble for Braska and me," Auron said, his voice still carrying a note of humour. 

"It's good to see you're not all dead, old timer," Buffy said, drawing reproving looks from Wakka and Lulu. "Where's the harm? It'd be like a nice little diversion from all this walking we're doing." 

Famous last words… 

*** 

The group stopped, after what seemed like hours of walking to an exhausted sixteen-year-old not used to walking to the corner store, at an inn, owned by an Al Bhed named Rin. Rin's Travel Agency, the owner called it. 

Buffy found herself isolating herself from the others, her mind wandering as she wandered around what served as a lobby and general store for the small inn. She picked up an item here, examining it from every angle before putting it back and moving on to look at an item there. 

The sun was setting outside. Buffy could see it through the round windows. Tidus and Yuna were sitting out there, enjoying the moment. Buffy didn't want to interrupt. It was, after all, their moment. 

"You look troubled," a man commented. Buffy tore her eyes away from the stunning sunset, bringing her attention on the blond man who'd spoken. His skin was dark, probably having spent a lot of time under the sun. He was dressed in the strange clothing that Buffy had come to expect from the inhabitants of Spira. 

"Am I that transparent?" Buffy asked, a slight smirk on her face. 

"I am Rin. As the owner of this establishment, I see a lot of people pass through," Rin explained. 

"Oh," Buffy said, nodding her understanding. "So, you're Al Bhed?" 

"Yes, for what it's worth," Rin said. "Hela du saad oui." 

Buffy blinked, confused. She glanced around to see if anyone else heard, or if it was just her ears playing tricks with her. "Okay," she said slowly. "I have no idea what you just said, but ditto." 

"It means 'nice to meet you,'" Rin explained. 

"Oh. Well, ditto then," Buffy said, smiling. She turned back to the sunset. The sun was nearly gone now. "Have you heard of the large fiend attacks? I saw a bunch of those yellow birds out back. Could be trouble." 

"The Crusaders are on patrol," said Rin. 

"Even so, I think I'm gonna go check on them, before I hit the sack. Just to be on the safe side, you know?" 

Buffy turned, and walked from the travel agency. Once outside, Buffy breathed deeply. It was good to be out of there, away from all the questioning eyes. 

They'd fought more fiends on the way. With each successive fiend she killed, it became more apparent to her travelling companions that Buffy wasn't just a little stronger, a little faster; she was something else entirely. 

The girl wandered around to the back of the travel agency, finding the chocobo corral. There were maybe a dozen birds grazing peacefully. Buffy leaned on the fence, reaching for the nearest chocobo. 

"Hey there," she said, scratching the bird behind where she imagined its ears might have been. She smiled, imagining what it had to be like to ride one of these birds. "How's it going today?" 

The girl suddenly tensed, and she knew she was not alone. Buffy looked around cautiously, weary of every long shadow and every slight movement. The chocobos seemed to pick up on her weariness, and they became anxious. 

"Come on out. I know you're there," Buffy announced loudly, trying to goad whoever was watching her out into the open. She turned, trying to get a better look at her surroundings. 

Suddenly, something hit her, and hit her hard, across the jaw. Buffy went down. A strangely familiar voice growled, "you dare pretend…?" 

Buffy swept her attacker's legs out from under him. She kick-flipped to her feet and lashed out at her fallen attacker. He only barely managed to avoid the kick, rolling away from it. Her assailant spun around to deliver another devastating blow, but Buffy managed to block it, turning his momentum into a throw. 

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded, as her attacker pulled himself to his feet once more. 

"You mean you don't recognise me?" The words were almost bitter and resentful. As the man stepped into the pale moonlight, Buffy felt herself gasp, felt her knees go weak.   


_It was Angel; I couldn't believe it. Maybe because I was really starting to believe that I was stuck in Spira. I really didn't expect to see anyone I knew. I didn't know how much this meeting would change things…_


	6. Mi'ihen Hidden Fayth

_My note: sorry it took so long. I have exams and stuff. Plus, I kinda find my motivation waning. I think the differences start to become a little more evident now. At least, I hope they do._

**Where dreams end...**   
_6. Mi'ihen Hidden Fayth_

"Angel." The word was quietly whispered, almost as though in just speaking his name, the man before her would disappear, like a dream fading upon awakening to reality. For a moment, Buffy didn't know what to do, what to say. Silence settled over them; they seemed frozen in that one moment. 

"Buffy, you out here?" 

The moment ended, as Wakka rounded the corner. Angel's game face slid over his face. He snarled viciously and leapt up onto the roof. He vanished over the roof with inhuman speed. 

Buffy shook herself free of her shock. It all seemed to have happened in slow motion. She started after the vampire, only to have her arm caught in a firm grip by Wakka. 

"What's goin' on?" Wakka demanded. Buffy tried to pull herself free from his grip, but he managed to hold on. "What were you doin' talkin' to that fiend?" 

"He's not a fiend," Buffy protested. 

"Didn't look that way to me," Wakka said. 

"I don't care! Just let me go!" Buffy said. Wakka held on. Buffy spun around, and slammed her open palm into his chest. The force of the blow was not enough to seriously hurt the blitzer – god only knew he had to have taken harder hits in training – but it was enough to throw him into the travel agency wall. 

Wakka gasped, his hand going to his chest in an attempt to ease the pain. "What are you?" He managed, but Buffy was already gone. He watched her move across the darkened highroad. Her speed was incredible, almost unbelievable, and she was soon lost to the darkness.   


_I didn't like hitting Wakka like that. I have to admit I liked him, even if he is a little dense. I didn't want to hurt him, but I had to catch up to Angel; I had to make some sense of this, of why I was here in Spira…_   


The path before her stretched out into the darkness, twisting away from the highroad. The path might at one point have been another road, maybe for one of the ancient cultures apparently destroyed by Sin. Whatever the case, it was little more than a dirt trail now. The only evidence that it had ever been paved was occasional, and hard to recognise. 

It was anger that was driving her now, pure and simple. She was angry that Angel left so abruptly. She was angry that he'd attacked her. She was just angry. 

And she was taking risks that she normally wouldn't have taken. There was only one fiend that got in her way, a huge beast. The thing put her in mind of what a mad scientist might get if he or she crossed a giant bird, an ape, and something green, maybe a lizard. It had scaly hands and feet, not unlike those of a chocobo, though its arms were much longer than its legs. The monster had no real neck to speak of, just a head jutting straight out of its broad shoulders. 

It didn't even give the young Slayer pause; she hit it hard enough to kill it in one blow, then continued on her way. Buffy followed the winding road down, aware that she could be ambushed at any time but indifferent to the fact. 

Lost in a whirlwind of dark emotions and thoughts, Buffy stumbled into a clearing. There was a camp fire going in the middle. At the far side, she could see Angel, his eyes following her every movement, studying her. She walked towards him. 

In the firelight, she could clearly see that, even though this was Angel, it wasn't the Angel she remembered. His chestnut-coloured hair was long and unkempt, framing a perfectly pale face, and his eyes were cold and uncaring. He was dressed in a patchwork mess of blackened armour, and armed with a long black sword. He'd gone medieval on her. 

"So, you wanna tell me what was with the disappearing act back there?" Buffy asked. She couldn't help the edge in her voice. 

"You're not her," Angel said coldly. 

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, her frustration more than a little evident. She shook her head, trying to organise her thoughts. "I thought we were past this cryptic crap. I just want a straight answer, Angel." 

"Sunnydale's gone," Angel said. 

Buffy's mouth opened and shut, as she tried to think of something to say. "G-gone? As in…?" 

"The Hellmouth opened," Angel explained. His voice was cool, dispassionate. "All of them, actually, but the one under Sunnydale opened first. The world was swallowed by darkness." 

Buffy felt her knees go weak, felt herself falling to the ground. She felt almost detached from herself, but it was only because she was having trouble comprehending the magnitude of his statement. 

"Why…? How…?" Buffy couldn't bring herself to form questions. She wasn't sure she even wanted answers. 

"A demon threw her here," Angel said coldly. "Before it all went down. Who knows? She might have been the one to stop it all, but because she wasn't there, it turned out all wrong." 

"Who are you talking about?" Buffy demanded. 

"Buffy," Angel whispered, his eyes wandering to the fire. 

"I'm Buffy!" Buffy snapped angrily. 

"You're not her!" Angel roared, leaping to his feet. "You'll never be her!" 

"You son of a—" Buffy started, jumping to her feet. She never got to finish her accusation. Angel leapt across the fire at her, landing a powerful blow to her jaw. Buffy was thrown to the ground. 

"You'll never be her," Angel repeated, his demonic visage shifting into place. 

Buffy picked herself up, slowly, rubbing the feeling back into her jaw. "Okay," she said slowly. "That hurt." 

The young Slayer punched Angel back, punched him hard. She launched herself at Spira's only demon, attacking with a high roundhouse kick. Angel ducked underneath her leg, and punched her hard in the stomach. 

Buffy doubled over in pain. Angel hit her with a vicious uppercut, sending the young girl to the ground. The vampire came at her to finish her off. Buffy only just managed to roll out of the way, as he brought his foot down hard. 

She kick-flipped to her feet, jumping back from him to put some distance between the two of them. A steady trickle of blood ran down her face, from a gash in her forehead. Her nose was bleeding too. 

Buffy wiped the blood away with the back of her hand. "I-is that the best you got?" She asked, unable to keep her voice from sounding a little uncertain. "The Angel I remember would have kicked your ass by now." 

Angel roared in anger, and launched himself at her. Buffy was ready for his attack, twisting out of the way in a seemingly impossible manner. She grabbed his sword, pulled it free from his belt, and impaled him with it, in one smooth motion. 

The vampire fell to his knees. Buffy tore the huge sword free, raised it, and brought it around in one powerful arc. 

A moment later, she was alone in the clearing. She let the sword fall to the ground, unable to hold on to the weapon any longer.   


_I killed him. I had no choice. That didn't mean I felt any better about it. I was alone again. I was always alone… and it hurt._   


It seemed like a short eternity, before she was able to pull herself together, to some semblance of numb consciousness. It wasn't her Angel. It couldn't have been him; he hadn't even recognised her. 

Try as she might, she couldn't convince herself. 

Why had Angel come here? Buffy got the distinct impression that he had been leading her here, for some unknown reason. She glanced around, taking note of her surroundings for the first time. 

There was a cave at the far end of the clearing, well concealed by thick vines and plant growth. The only reason that Buffy saw it was because she was used to looking for caves and places used by vampires to hide. There were subtle indications that the cave might have been artificially constructed, but those were signs that went completely over Buffy's head. 

Buffy knew enough to recognise an invite when she saw one. Angel led her to this place, whether that was his intent or not, and whatever was in the cave was the reason. 

She was beyond caring about whatever danger she might have to face inside. She stepped into the darkness, and stopped when she crossed over the threshold. Thousands of little lights lit up, each one a cold blue-white. They lit up the ceiling of the cavern like stars lit up the night sky. 

Somehow, it was a comfort. It made her feel like everything would work out, like it would all be okay. 

The door sealed itself heavily behind her. "Guess that means I can't change my mind," Buffy muttered to herself. She looked around for the first time, taking in her surroundings in detail. 

This felt like a crypt, a classy one, but still some place where the dead were laid to rest. Buffy was familiar with the feeling. 

The young Slayer found herself in a large circular chamber. If she'd missed the evidence outside, that the cave was artificially constructed, she certainly couldn't miss it now. 

The walls were smooth and uniform, made of black stone, almost like polished onyx, undecorated, save for the illusion of a star-filled sky. 

There was a pedestal in the centre of the room, simple and built of the same black stone that the walls were constructed of. There was a sphere-shaped recess in the top of the pedestal. 

Stepping further into the chamber, she saw a statue on the opposite side of the room, a statue bearing a remarkable resemblance to her. It was spooky. In her hands, the statue held out two spheres: one glowed darkly and the other glowed brilliantly. 

"So, one of these has to be a key," she muttered. But which one? If she picked the wrong one, she could be in serious trouble. So she picked them both up. 

Buffy walked back to the pedestal. "So, which one of these things do I use?" 

The young Slayer measured the two spheres in her hands, trying to decide which one was the key. There were no obvious differences between the two spheres, except that one was dark and the other was light. 

"Here goes nothing," Buffy muttered. She inserted the dark sphere and pocketed the other. Buffy squeezed her eyes shut, almost expecting a the large rolling boulder, like in that Indiana Jones movie. 

When nothing happened, Buffy opened her eyes. Just in time to witness a pillar of darkness envelop the pedestal. One by one, the artificial stars overhead winked out. Buffy watched as the last star was extinguished, an uneasy feeling settling itself in the pit of her stomach. 

The ground beneath her feet began to tremble. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but by the time Buffy realised what was going on, it was already too late. "Oh no," she muttered. 

The ground collapsed underneath her weight. "Ow!" She complained. She would have looked around, but she was left in complete darkness, without the light from the artificial stars. "I guess that was the wrong sphere." 

Buffy pulled the other sphere from her pocket. She was almost instantly sorry she did. 

Pale light illuminated her surroundings, painting them in stark light and shadow. Including a rather large dog-like fiend. At least, it would have been dog-like, except for the deep blue scales, the glowing white eyes, and the razor sharp claws. 

"Crap," Buffy muttered. The fiend slammed into her, throwing Buffy through the air. She landed hard, skidding a couple of feet before coming to a complete stop. The sphere rolled from her grip, making the shadows dance wildly. 

Buffy flipped to her feet, jumping out of the way just in time to dodge another of the fiend's attacks. In the jumbled moments that followed, she exchanged blows with the monster whose snarling, snapping, attempts at reducing her to snack size never seemed that far off. 

The young Slayer wasn't entirely sure what happened, but somehow she prevailed, jumping onto the creature's back and wrenching it's head all the way around, until she heard and felt the sickening crack. The monster collapsed beneath her, exploding into thousands of pyreflies even as it did. Buffy was once again dumped unceremoniously on her backside. 

And for a long moment, she stayed there, just catching her breath. After a long moment, she stumbled to her feet, still feeling the adrenaline coursing through her system. She walked over, and scooped up the sphere she's dropped, holding it higher now. 

The ground was littered with bones, of people, animals, whatever managed to find itself down here. The room, like the one above, appeared to be roughly circular, made of the same polished black rock. 

Now that the fiend was dead, lines of light bled down from the room above, and there were once again artificial stars. "Now what?" Buffy muttered to herself, looking around. 

Almost as if on cue, a polished black stone door slid open, as if beckoning to her, calling her to enter the darkness. She shrugged, pocketing the sphere she still held, and picked her way towards the door. 

It led to a long winding staircase, which in turn led to another large roughly circular room. There was a treasure chest, sitting in the middle of the room. This looked easy enough. Maybe this was what Angel had been guarding. 

Buffy stepped cautiously into the chamber. She tried to spot any possible traps, but she really wasn't a tomb-raiding type, so she really didn't know what to look for. When nothing happened after a moment, Buffy walked over to the treasure chest. 

It was a simple enough, except for the sphere-shaped indentation in the lid. Buffy pulled out the light sphere, and slipped it into the hole. It made sense. 

There was an audible snap, and the latch gave way. Buffy pushed the lid open. Inside, she found a number of things: a sword, a belt for the sword, another sphere, this one different from the first two. She reached in, pulling the sword out. 

It was a superb weapon, perfectly balanced and with an inexplicable sense of strength flowing through it; the weapon felt like it amplified her already formidable power. 

It was a simple-looking weapon, no fancy hilt or anything, a functional weapon. It was about three feet long, the blade made of a reflective crimson metal. 

"Wow," Buffy muttered, whirling the blade around in an experimental arc. She may not have liked her destiny as the Slayer, but she could still appreciate a thing of beauty. This sword was certainly that. 

She reached into the treasure chest. The young Slayer strapped the belt around her waist, picked up the sphere and pocketed it. 

The ground started to shake beneath her feet, triggered by the fact that she'd just emptied the treasure chest. 

The treasure chest vanished, evaporating into a cloud of pyreflies. A ribbon-like symbol burned on the ground, encompassing the entire room. For a moment she was illuminated by the brilliant blue-white light. 

And then, darkness.   


_Maybe I passed out, I don't know. The next thing I knew, I was in a totally different chamber.___

_I found the words of the Kilika priest coming back to me. "The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin," he said. "Now they live forever trapped in stone." And I felt an inexplicable sense of dread settle into me._   


There was a light, faint though it was. It was coming from just a few feet ahead of her. 

Blinking her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness, Buffy managed to stumble over to the light. The contents of the treasure chest hadn't been what Angel was guarding; they were just another key to getting here, to this place and time. 

She fell to her knees, understanding what the source of that strange light was. 

There, set into the ground before her, was one of the living statues, one of the fayth. The statue was strangely alive, an image that Buffy couldn't quite put into words. 

It was also vaguely horrifying. There was something about the statue, an underlying sense of despair rolling off it, that just sent shivers down Buffy's spine. 

The carving was that of a knight, though it wasn't by any means a human knight. The knight had the torso of a man, partially armoured in brilliantly polished armour, but that was the only human thing about him. His lower half was that of a horse, a powerful white stallion. The knight had three sets of wings: four wings protruding from his back, and two from the powerful shoulders of the horse's body. 

Buffy couldn't help but be impressed. It looked almost alive, in a creepy kind of way. She found herself reaching out to touch it. 

"Hey Buff." 

Startled, Buffy jumped back. 

The ghostly shade of Xander, the boy she knew so well, hung over the carving. He was dressed very differently, in clothes Buffy had come to associate with Spira, but it was still him. He still had the same dark hair, the same warm brown eyes, that she remembered. 

"Long time no see." 

"X… Xander!" Buffy gasped. Questions threatened to overwhelm her. Xander couldn't be the fayth! He just couldn't! This was some kind of dream. It had to be. 

"I'd give you a hug, but I'm a little insubstantial right now," Xander said, with a grin. Buffy couldn't smile, couldn't see the humour in the situation. Numbness returned to claim her again. 

"You're…" Buffy couldn't finish the sentence, as though speaking it would render any chance at changing things impossible. 

"I'm a fayth," said Xander, nodding. "It seemed necessary at the time." 

Buffy closed her eyes, and tried to come to terms with this. Xander didn't push her. After a long moment of silence, Buffy opened her eyes again. "Can you tell me… what happened?" 

"It's a long story," Xander responded, with a grin. 

"I want to know," Buffy insisted. 

A serious look settled itself on Xander's face. "We came here looking for you, me, Willow, and Angel," he said, his tone as serious as the look on his face. "Without the Slayer – without you – there to keep it from happening, the Hellmouth opened up the first chance it got. It swallowed Sunnydale whole. Then, the others around the world started to open. The world was engulfed in darkness." 

Xander shook his head. "I'm not really sure how we survived, but some of us did. I guess we had no choice really. We learned to fight, to survive." He chuckled. "Willow was quite the witch." 

"So it's true," Buffy whispered. "My mom…?" 

"She was… lucky. She died in when Sunnydale was destroyed," Xander said. "She didn't have to see the suffering that the demons inflicted on the survivors." 

Buffy felt tears welling up in her eyes, tried to fight them, and failed. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I really am," Xander consoled. 

"She didn't… suffer, did she?" Buffy asked quietly. 

"No," Xander said. "It was almost instant." 

"Good," Buffy said. She hugged her legs, resting her cheek on her knees. Again, a long moment of silence settled over them, as Buffy tried to come to terms with what she now knew. "Why… why did you become fayth?" 

"It's complicated," Xander said, after a moment. "Willow and me, we learned a long time ago that you have to grab hold of whatever happiness you can get, even if it only lasts a heartbeat." 

"A thousand years ago, I became a fayth to help a friend find her happiness," Xander said. "Willow too. We pretty much gave up on ever seeing you again, and, to be honest, we had to help Lenne and Shuyin." 

"It was the right thing to do?" Buffy offered, with a weak smile. 

"Right," said Xander. "Seeing you again… it means so much to me, but… you have to understand, Buff. It's been a thousand years for me, a thousand years trapped in an insubstantial form, unable to touch, or to affect the world around me." 

"Xander…" Buffy whispered. 

"A thousand years, with nothing but Deadboy for conversation," Xander added darkly. "A thousand years…" 

"I want to help," Buffy said. 

"Even if it means I die?" Xander asked. After a long moment, Buffy nodded. Xander was one of her best friends. She owed it to him to help in any way he wanted her to. Even if it meant he wanted help dying. "Then beat Sin." 

"I'm hanging out with a Summoner," Buffy offered. "She's trying to do just that." 

"No," Xander said, shaking his head. "You can't use the Final Aeon to beat Sin. You have to beat it without using Summoners, without Aeons." 

"But why?" Buffy asked. 

"The Summoner you're hanging out with… you get along?" Xander asked. 

"Yuna? Yeah, she's great. Her and Tidus, they kinda remind me of you guys," Buffy said, with a smile. "Why?" 

"If you let Yuna summon the Final Aeon, then she'll die and Sin will still come back," said Xander. He shook his head, and closed his eyes, as if trying to straighten something out in his head. "It's like this. Sin isn't the problem you gotta deal with. It's what's inside it that's the problem." 

"I don't understand," Buffy said, frowning slightly. 

"Yu Yevon is inside Sin," Xander explained. "Every time the Final Aeon is summoned, it kills Sin, but it doesn't touch Yu Yevon. He kinda possesses the Final Aeon, and creates Sin around himself all over again." 

"So, if I kill this Yu Yevon guy, then…" Buffy let her sentence trail off. 

"Then Sin will be destroyed, and it will never come back, and we'll finally be allowed to rest," said Xander. "The only problem is getting close enough without being squashed like a bug." 

"So, how do I do that?" Buffy asked. 

"That's where me and Will come in," said Xander. 

"Huh?" 

"I'll help you whenever you need help, Buff. You just gotta ask," said Xander solemnly. "Willow will too, I'm sure. You just gotta find her fayth." 

"Oh." 

"You ready?" Xander asked. 

Buffy stood up slowly, stretching. "I'm ready," she said, a determined look settling itself on her face. 

"Help us make our dreams come true," Xander said. Then he flew towards the young Slayer. Buffy threw her hands up out of habit to protect her face. Xander passed right through her. When she turned around, he was gone… 


	7. Discussion with a Summoner

**Where dreams end...**   
_7. Discussion with a Summoner_

The sun was just climbing over the horizon, by the time Buffy found herself back at the travel agency. The journey back seemed to pass by without her even noticing it; she was too lost in thought, trying to understand everything she'd learned. 

Buffy slipped almost soundlessly into the travel agency, hoping to get a couple of hours of sleep in, before she had to get up again. That hope was dashed, when she slipped quietly into the room she shared with Yuna and Lulu. 

Yuna was sitting up in bed, almost as though waiting for Buffy. "Where have you been?" The young Summoner asked quietly. In the bed farthest from the door, Lulu was asleep. 

"I had some business to take care of," Buffy whispered. She removed her jacket, unbuckled the sword from around her waist, and kicked her shoes off. The girl removed her trousers, then slipped underneath the covers. 

"Are you alright?" Yuna asked. She reached over, gingerly touching the deep gash on Buffy's forehead, the one Angel put there. It had long since stopped bleeding, but her face had to be covered in dried blood still. Buffy flinched at Yuna's touch. 

"I'll be fine. I just need a couple hours' sleep," Buffy responded. 

"Buffy, you are my guardian," Yuna whispered. Here it came, the rebuke for disappearing into the night. "But you are also my friend. If there is anything you require, I want to help." 

"I'll be fine," Buffy repeated, a little quieter. In truth, she wasn't so sure. Yuna lay back in her bed and closed her oddly coloured eyes. An uncomfortable silence fell over them. 

"Yuna?" Buffy whispered, checking to see if her friend was still awake. 

"Yes?" Yuna whispered back. 

"What happens… when you reach Zanarkand?" Buffy asked, a little hesitantly. Zanarkand was at the end of the Summoner's pilgrimage; it was the final destination. But Buffy still found herself a little uncertain about what happened after that. 

The Kilika temple priest explained that, if a Summoner was strong enough to reach Zanarkand, then he or she would be granted the Final Summoning, a weapon with which to defeat Sin. Buffy knew from experience that a power like that couldn't come without a price, and Xander told her that performing the Final Summoning would kill Yuna. To be honest, she was looking for a reason not to believe him. 

"I will be granted the Final Summoning," said Yuna quietly, and Buffy knew instantly that it was a well-rehearsed line. She still wanted to hear the truth from Yuna's mouth. She needed to hear it from Yuna's mouth. 

"What… happens after that?" Buffy asked. 

Yuna remained silent for a long moment, before sitting up, fixing her attention now fully on Buffy. "Does it matter?" Yuna asked quietly. 

"It does to me," Buffy responded. "You have to tell me." 

"Buffy, why do you ask?" Yuna asked. 

"I… just need to know. I need to know what happens in the end. I can't explain it," Buffy whispered. At least, she couldn't explain it in words that she was willing to speak. Buffy needed to hear from Yuna that the Final Summoning would kill her. She needed some irrefutable proof, because part of her still wanted to believe that this was all a dream, a nightmare. 

"I will die," Yuna said soberly. 

There it was. Whatever deniability Buffy's mind still held on to, it slipped away with those three words. Yuna would die if she was allowed to perform the Final Summoning. Buffy guessed that was why there weren't any High Summoners who beat Sin twice. 

So Xander was right. She hadn't wanted to believe him, even though she'd agreed to help him. That left Buffy with just one course of action. 

Buffy sat up, looking Yuna straight in the eye. "I can't let you do that, Yuna," the young Slayer said, after a long moment. "I can't let you throw away your life for nothing." 

"It's not for nothing!" Yuna said, her voice louder than even she expected. Both girls glanced over at Lulu, to see if the black magician would wake, but if Lulu had woken up, she only turned over and went back to sleep. 

"Even for a little while, people can sleep in their beds without being afraid," Yuna told Buffy, her tone more controlled this time. "They can live without the threat of Sin looming over them. That kind of time is worth anything." 

"Not your life, Yuna," Buffy told her, her tone even. "Listen, I know where you're coming from. What's one life against all those lives you'd be saving, right?" 

"If my life is the price for defeating Sin, then I pay that price gladly," Yuna said, nodding her agreement. 

"That's not right!" The two girls glanced over at Lulu again, as Buffy raised her voice. The black magician didn't stir. Buffy and Yuna both breathed a sigh of relief. "Yuna, you're my friend. You know that, right?" 

"Of course," Yuna said. 

"Then why are you doing this?" Buffy asked quietly. She didn't expect an answer, didn't want one. She shook her head, frustrated. "I don't understand. I can't." 

"This is something that I can do," Yuna said. "To make this world a better place." 

"But it won't change anything," Buffy responded. "Sin will just come back again. It always comes back, remember?" 

"You don't know that," said Yuna sincerely. "Maybe this time it won't come back. You have to have faith." 

"Please, Yuna," Buffy pleaded. "Don't do this." 

Buffy couldn't make herself meet Yuna's eyes. The young Summoner reached out, her fingertips brushing Buffy's cheek, gently tilting Buffy's face until her eyes met Yuna's. 

"I will understand if you don't want to be my guardian anymore, but this is something that I have already decided," Yuna smiled at Buffy, a warm and understanding kind of smile. She lay back down, pulling the sheets up over her shoulders. 

Buffy let herself lie down too. Alone in her own bed, Buffy curled up into a ball, pulling the sheets tightly towards her…   


_Everything was going wrong, and I'd only been in this world for a little under two weeks. I felt so alone._   


Morning, or to be more precise, later that same morning, came far too quickly for Buffy's tastes. She felt herself being shaken gently. Opening her eyes, she saw Lulu standing over her, already fully dressed. 

"What time is it?" Buffy grumbled, blearily blinking back the sleep. She glanced around, her mind taking a moment to update her on her surroundings. 

"It's time to wake up," Lulu told her, not in an unkind tone of voice. 

Buffy leaned over the bed, reaching for her jacket. She fumbled for a moment, before pulling out her watch. It was already nine thirty in the morning. At least that wasn't too early. 

Lulu sat down on her bed, waiting for Buffy to wake up. The young Slayer found herself wondering where Yuna was. "I heard your conversation with Yuna last night," Lulu said. 

Buffy stopped. "You were asleep," Buffy said. 

"Next time you shouldn't raise your voice," said Lulu, with a hint of a laugh in her voice. She gave Buffy a stoic smile. 

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up," said Buffy, offering Lulu an apologetic smile. 

"That's alright," said Lulu. "Where did you go last night?" 

"I saw a friend. I had to follow him," Buffy answered, her eyes becoming distant as she thought back to Angel. 

"Did you learn anything?" Lulu inquired. 

"Nothing to help me get back home, or to make me want to get back home, if that's what you're asking," said the young Slayer. She paused to give Lulu a look, wondering if that really was what the black magician was asking about. As ever, Lulu's face was unreadable. "I found out about the Final Summoning. I don't agree with it. But I guess you already know that." 

"Yes," said Lulu, with a slight nod. 

"How do you do it, Lulu?" Buffy asked. "Isn't Yuna like a sister to you?" 

"Don't think we didn't try to talk her out of it," Lulu admonished gently. "When Yuna sets her mind to something, there is no stopping her." 

"I hadn't noticed," Buffy muttered sarcastically. Yuna was too strong-willed for her own good. 

"You have made quite an impact on her," Lulu said. "She stayed up all night waiting for you to come back. I think she really likes you." 

"Then why won't she listen to me?" Buffy asked, even though she already knew the answer. 

"That's just the way Yuna is," Lulu said. She stood up, motioning for Buffy to follow. The young Slayer grabbed her clothing from the heap on the floor, and followed after the black magician. 

Lulu led Buffy into the bathroom. It wasn't exactly the level of indoor plumbing that Buffy was accustomed to, but at least it wasn't anything along the lines of a latrine either. "You may want to get cleaned up," Lulu suggested. 

Buffy caught sight of herself in the mirror. She was filthy, covered in dirt and her own dried blood. As expected, the superficial scrapes and bruises she'd sustained fighting Angel and his pet fiend were already gone; they hadn't even leave scars. 

All she had to do now was wash the blood from her face and hair and shirt. It took her the better part of a half hour to do just that. Drying herself off, she pulled her wet blonde hair back into a messy ponytail. She slipped easily back into her clothes, buckling her sword around her waist, and shrugging her jacket on over her shoulders. 

Then she left the bathroom. 

Yuna was waiting for her outside. The young Summoner gasped when she saw Buffy. She moved a little closer, her hands gingerly probing where Buffy had so recently been hurt. "You're all better," she said, with something akin to awe in her voice. 

"Yeah," said Buffy, with a nod. "Listen, Yuna, I want to apologise for this morning. I shouldn't have tried to talk you out of… well, you know." 

"It's alright," said Yuna, with a bright smile. 

"I still want to be your guardian, if you'll have me," Buffy offered. 

Yuna smiled. "Just so long as you remember to smile," she said, with a slight laugh. "Come on. The others are already waiting for us outside." She took Buffy by the hand, and led her to where the other guardians were waiting for them. 

"Look who's back, eh," Wakka said. "You find what you were lookin' for?" 

Buffy shook her head. "Wakka, about last night, I… I hope I didn't hurt you too much," she said, embarrassed. 

"Nah," said Wakka. "It'll take more than that to hurt me." 

"He was moaning all night about how much it hurt," Tidus said. Wakka glared at him, but he just grinned back. 

"Are we ready?" Auron asked, sounding like his usual gruff and emotionless self. 

"Sure," Buffy said, with a shrug. 

"Hey! Wait!" Tidus cut in, before they could go. "What about that Chocobo-eating fiend? I thought we were gonna take care of it." 

The door to the travel agency opened up. Rin and an Al Bhed woman walked out. "Forgive me, but I could not help but overhear your conversation," Rin said, bowing his head. "I have just been informed that the particular fiend you were going to stop has already been taken care of." 

"Huh? When?" Tidus asked. 

"Last night," Rin answered, smiling. He gestured to Buffy. "This young lady killed it." 

"I did?" Buffy asked, sounding as confused as Tidus looked. "I don't remember killing any fiends last night." 

"Maybe it was that fiend you ran after," Wakka suggested. 

"I already told you," Buffy said through gritted teeth. "Angel's not a fiend. It'd help if I knew what the fiend looked like." 

"It would have appeared vaguely reptilian," Rin said. 

"Oh," said Buffy. Had she fought any reptilian fiends last night? There was that one she killed because it got in her way, but that couldn't be it, could it? 

"Have you an interest in renting some chocobos?" Rin asked. Buffy's eyes lit up. To be able to ride one of those big yellow birds had to be such a thrill. "As a token of our gratitude, the first time is free of charge. Please ask the attendant if you wish to rent." 

He gestured to the Al Bhed woman standing next to him. "She will show you to the corral. I wish you a pleasant journey." That said, Rin turned and walked back into his travel agency. 

"Way to go, kiddo," said Tidus, tousling Buffy's hair affectionately and earning himself a glare from the young Slayer. 

"Ya," Wakka agreed. "We should reach the end of the highroad much faster this way." 

"Oh! Thank you so much for protecting the chocobos," the Al Bhed woman said. 

"And we actually get to ride them?" Buffy asked eagerly. "The big yellow birds, I mean?" 

"That's what they're there for," Auron answered coolly. 

Before Buffy could think of a snappy comeback, the old man moved off, following the attendant towards the chocobo corral. Buffy felt robbed. Yuna laughed at the look on Buffy's face. She and Tidus took Buffy by the arm and they followed after Auron.   


_To ride a chocobo faster than the wind... I can't really describe it. It's so exhilarating. It was like I was flying or something, like I was free. You guys would have loved it; it felt great._   


There weren't enough chocobos to go around, and two of the group had to share. At Buffy's suggestion, Yuna rode behind Tidus, holding on tight. The young Summoner was almost certain that was exactly what Buffy had intended, even without Buffy's knowing smile. Yuna had to admit that she enjoyed being this close to Tidus, even if she couldn't admit it to him in words. 

"What a kick!" Buffy exclaimed happily, jumping from the chocobo. They'd arrived at the end of the highroad in record time, and they hadn't even been bothered by any of the fiends. "We have to do that again sometime." 

"I enjoyed it too," Yuna said. She and Buffy shared a conspiratorial smile, before breaking down into giggles. 

"Hey guys," said Tidus. "Look who's here." 

The guardian pointed towards the gate, currently guarded by two crusaders. The Summoner Dona was arguing with one of the guards. "It's Dona," Tidus said, his voice distinctly lacking in anything even approaching enthusiasm. 

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Dona asked, sounding more infuriated than frustrated. She put her hands on her hips, glaring at the man. "I'm a Summoner!" 

"Sorry, ma'am! No exceptions!" The guard said. 

"You dare impede a Summoner's pilgrimage?" Done threatened. 

"Sorry, ma'am! No exceptions!" The guard repeated mechanically. 

"Useless!" Dona huffed, turning away from the guard with a look of annoyance on her face. 

"She's such a snob," Buffy told Tidus. He nodded in agreement. Yuna wanted to reprove her two guardians, but she really couldn't find it in her heart to do so. "Let's go rub it in. Hey Dona!" 

Dona turned to look at them. "Oh, it's you," she dismissed. "As you can see, not even Summoners can pass. But they'll call on us in the end." 

"Confident, aren't you?" Buffy asked, smirking smugly. 

"I'm a Summoner," Dona said, as if this was some kind of justification for her confidence. Yuna wished she could be as confident as Dona sounded, but as much as she wanted to defeat Sin, she had her doubts. "Just wait and see. In the meantime, I think I'll have a nap. Oh, Barthello?" 

Yuna watched as Dona's muscular guardian move off after the other Summoner. Buffy laced her fingers together behind her head and watched the two go. "She's not very pleasant, is she?" Buffy asked. 

"Not really," Tidus agreed. 

"Stop that you two," Wakka warned. "She's still a Summoner." 

"Wonder what it's like," Buffy murmured. Yuna wondered at the question, even as her guardian turned to her. "Tell me about it. What's it feel like to summon one of those thingies?" 

"Thingies?" Tidus asked, giving her an odd look. 

"Aeons," Yuna corrected Buffy, with a warm smile. She grabbed Buffy by the arm. "Come on. I'll tell you all about it, while we wait for them to open the Mushroom Rock Road again." 

That said, the young Summoner dragged her friend away from the group, to the side of the Highroad, where they wouldn't be in the way. Tidus scratched the back of his head, giving the two girls a look. 

"You think they're acting weird?" Yuna heard him ask Wakka. For his part, the Blitzer just shrugged. 

"Why did you want to know?" Yuna asked, once they were comfortably seated and safely away from any eavesdroppers. 

"Remember I told you I left because I had some business to take care of?" Buffy asked. Yuna nodded. Maybe now her friend would tell her where she'd disappeared to so abruptly. "Well, I saw a friend, and I had to follow him. I found…" 

Buffy's voice trailed off, and Yuna was left to wonder what her guardian was going through. She reached out and put a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Take your time." 

Buffy smiled, and covered Yuna's hand with her own. "Thanks," Buffy said, smiling. "I found another one of my friends. He was… Well, he was one of the fayth." 

Yuna gasped. "Are you sure?" 

"Yeah," Buffy said, nodding. "I'm pretty sure. What I saw… well, the Kilika priest described what a fayth looked like, and I'm sure that's what I saw. Plus, you know, Xander kinda admitted to being a fayth." 

What did that mean? Was Buffy really from this world, from Spira? It would explain her friend being one of the fayth. 

"I was wondering what it feels like, being a Summoner and all," said Buffy after a long moment's silence. "I can still kinda feel him inside, like a warm fuzzy feeling in the back of my mind." 

Yuna found herself shocked again. When she became a Summoner, Yuna learned to accept the fayth. The fayth joined with her, becoming a part of who she was. It felt very much like what Buffy described: a warmth, a kind of support. 

"What you describe, it sounds like your friend has agreed to become your aeon," Yuna told her honestly. She closed her eyes. If Buffy was a Summoner now, did that mean she'd stop travelling with Yuna's party? 

Buffy shook her head. "I thought so." 

"What… will you do now?" Yuna asked uncertainly. 

Buffy gave her a reassuring smile. "It doesn't change anything," Buffy said with a shrug. "I'm just your guardian. I'm not a Summoner like you." 

"Not yet," Yuna said. "But, with a little practice, you could learn to summon aeons." 

"I don't want to be a Summoner," Buffy responded. Yuna couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Very few people had the aptitude to be Summoners; it was considered a great honour to be gifted in the Summoner's arts. And Buffy didn't want to be one? Was there something wrong with the Summoner's life? 

Her disappointment must have registered with Buffy, because the girl gave her a reassuring grin. "I got enough problems to worry about just keeping you on the straight and narrow. Speaking of which, how'd you like your chocobo ride?" 

Buffy was changing the subject on purpose, trying to deflect attention away from Yuna's feelings of disappointment. Yuna stood up, a little more disappointed. "I liked it fine," Yuna said.   


_I told Yuna about you, Xander. I'm not sure it was the right thing to do; I think I may have hurt our friendship. How would you have handled it, I wonder. Or you, Will?_   
__

Then the young Summoner moved over towards her other guardians. She was acutely aware of the fact that Buffy was watching her go. She probably didn't even know why Yuna was so disappointed in her. "Everything okay?" Tidus asked. 

"Everything's fine," Yuna said, giving Buffy a distant look. "Why doesn't she understand?" 

"Understand what?" Tidus asked. 

"Oh! Nothing. Never mind," Yuna responded quickly. This wasn't something she should share. This was something that she had to deal with on her own; only she could help Buffy understand. Only, she didn't know how, just yet. 

"Let's see if they'll let us through," Yuna suggested. Buffy stood up, and joined the group of guardians, as they approached the guarded gate. A cart rumbled by, escorted by Crusaders. 

"Gatta and Luzzu reporting, sir!" The younger of the two Crusaders said, pulling off a smart salute. 

"This is the last of them," the older Crusader said. Buffy poked at the cart, and Yuna could see the surprise on her young guardian's face, when something in the cart moved. To be honest, Yuna felt a little surprised herself. What exactly were the Crusaders up to, anyway? 

"Good to have you with us," the guard said. The same guard that had turned away Dona motioned for the others to open the gate. "Go on through!" 

The younger of the two Crusaders, Gatta, turned to Tidus. "Show me how to blitz sometime!" 

"Wait around," said Luzzu. "We'll have Sin beat in no time!" 

The two Crusaders followed the cart through the open gate, but when Tidus attempted to follow, the gate's guards stopped him. "I'm sorry. I can't let you pass," he told the guardian. Then he noticed Yuna. "Hey, you're a Summoner and her guardians, right? Sorry for the inconvenience." 

"Tell me about the operation," Tidus said. 

"Yeah," Buffy agreed, from the back of the group. "What's with all the security." 

"What, they didn't tell you?" The guard asked. Yuna saw Buffy bite back a sarcastic response, and she was grateful for the girl's developing restraint. "We're bringing Sinspawn from all over Spira here. Sinspawn inevitably draw Sin, right? We're going to lure it into a trap!" 

"The security is there so innocent people do not get hurt," said a new voice. Yuna turned, and saw Maester Seymour. "So we meet again, Lady Yuna." 

"Y-yes?" Yuna asked. She felt a little intimidated by the Maester's presence, if she were being honest with herself. 

"You look troubled. Is there anything I can do?" Seymour asked. 

"Well…" Yuna didn't want to impose, but she really did need to get to the Djose Temple, and these Crusaders barricading the way didn't help her much. She wondered how to put her request into words. 

"I see," said Maester Seymour, almost as if reading her mind. He turned to the guard who had so recently barred they way. 

"Maester Seymour," the guard recognised. "Let me show you to the command centre." 

The guard was about to turn to the ones operating the gate mechanism when Maester Seymour raised his hand. "Hold. I have a request," Maester Seymour said. 

"Yes, Your Grace?" The guard asked. 

"I need to have Summoner Yuna and her guardians let through to the command centre." 

"But, Maester Seymour, sir…" The guard started to object. 

"Do not worry," said Seymour, his voice placating. "I will take full responsibility." 

"Very well," said the guard, a little more relaxed. "They may pass." 

"It is done," Seymour told Yuna, with a smile that made Yuna feel uncomfortable, despite herself. 

"Thank you, Your Grace," Yuna said, bowing gratefully. She and her guardians watched, as the Yevon Maester and his two guado bodyguards moved off down the Mushroom Rock Road, to the Crusader command centre no doubt. 


	8. On the Road to Operation Mi'ihen

_My note: here we go. This is right about where we were before things became unrealistic. You'll notice a lot of recycling. Happy holidays, people._

**Where dreams end...**   
_8. On the Road to Operation Mi'ihen_

"Who does he think he is?" Tidus muttered, as they passed through the gates. It was clear that he was just a little jealous, though of what Yuna had no idea. Maybe he liked her as much as she liked him. Yuna couldn't help but smile at that thought. 

"He's a Maester," Wakka said. "Better get used it, ya?" 

Beyond the gates, the terrain changed rapidly. Unlike the Highroad, a place of gently rolling hills and pleasant greenery, the Mushroom Rock road was a bleak, grey, route, nothing but dirt and rocks. It ran along the edge of a cliff, and the crashing of waves could be heard not too far away. 

The party walked on for a while, an uncomfortable silence settling over them. They actually caught up with Seymour, at another guard posting. "All hail Maester Seymour!" One guard exclaimed. 

"Brave Crusaders of Spira, protectors of all Spira," Seymour acknowledged, performing a prayer. "Believe in the path you have chosen, let faith be your strength! I, Seymour Guado, Maester of Yevon, will bear witness to your deeds today." 

The Crusaders saluted. "Sir!" 

"What's going on?" Wakka asked. 

"Isn't it obvious?" Buffy asked quietly, a note of distaste in her voice. "He's giving another one of his inspiring speeches." She smiled too sweetly at the blitzer, and moved off to one side before he could reprimand her for her lack of respect. 

"Why's Maester Seymour backing the Crusaders, eh? They're using the Al Bhed's machina! They're violating the teachings!" Wakka protested stubbornly. 

"Even going against the teachings they're willing to risk it for the greater good," Yuna said, her quiet voice strong. She shot Buffy a meaningful look, wondering if the young guardian understood. 

Buffy gave the Summoner no indication that she did. Yuna breathed a dejected sigh. "Wakka, I think Maester Seymour sees that, too." 

Wakka looked taken aback by Yuna's quiet support of something so immoral to the teachings of Yevon. He turned to the black magician. "Lulu?" He asked, hoping for support. 

"Hmm… I can only speculate," Lulu said. 

"Ask him yourself," Auron said calmly. He nodded in Seymour's direction. The Maester of Yevon was coming their direction. Seymour walked up to Auron, examining the old guardian thoroughly. 

"Ah, Sir Auron," he said. "It is an honour. I would be most interested in hearing what you've been doing these past ten years." There was the hint of a question in Seymour's voice, and also the hint of something else. 

"I've got nothing to say about it," Auron said coolly. He turned, and joined Buffy away from the rest of the group. 

"I… see," Seymour said slowly. He turned towards Yuna. "Sir Auron must be a great asset as a guardian." 

"You Grace!" Yuna said, bowing. 

"Please, there's no need for formalities," Seymour said, a smile on his face. 

"Excuse me… Maester Seymour?" Wakka started hesitantly. He scratched the back of his head, trying to find the right words to approach his doubts. "Why is your Lordship… presently… present here… sir?" 

"He wants to know what you're doing here, given that your teachings are all anti-machine and everything," Buffy supplied, rolling her eyes. 

"It's true… I should stop them," said Seymour, nodding towards Buffy, before turning back to Wakka. "However… both the Crusaders and the Al Bhed truly wish peace for Spira. This Operation Mi'ihen was born from that wish they share. Although it may be sacrilege to Yevon, their intentions are pure. And I, Seymour Guado – the person, not the Maester of Yevon… As a denizen of Spira, I wish them well in their endeavour." 

"But using machina… that's bad, isn't it?" Wakka sputtered. 

"What's bad about what they're trying to do? If they manage to beat Sin this way, then maybe the cycle of its rebirth will end. Isn't that worth the risk?" Buffy asked quietly. Yuna looked over at the girl. She did understand after all. 

"Sin is our punishment, for relying too much on machina. Using more machina to stop it is only going to make it stronger, eh?" Wakka asked, a rhetorical question. 

"Pretend you didn't see them," Seymour said. 

Wakka gasped in shock. "Beg your pardon, but that's not something a Maester should say!" He protested. 

"Then, pretend I didn't say it," Seymour said simply. 

"You're kidding!" Wakka sputtered. Seymour shook his head and turned to go, his honour guard following him. Wakka was left speechless. They too started off, Seymour already having dropped out of sight.   


_I have to admit, despite the fact that Seymour totally gave me the creeps, I could see his point. Sometimes I think Wakka's just a little blinded by his devotion to the teachings._   


"Excuse me, Lady Summoner Yuna?" 

Buffy recognised the young man, barely out of his teens. He had been with the Djose Chocobo Knights, when they had met on the Mi'ihen Highroad a couple of days ago. This guy was the kind of guy that faded into the background. He looked sort of chubby, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a green tunic underneath some plate armour that looked a little too big for him. 

Buffy could dimly remember the man's name was Clasko, though how she knew this she didn't know. She didn't remember ever being introduced to him. 

"Yes?" Yuna asked, giving the young man a smile. 

"The command centre…" Clasko said, gesturing to the left hand fork in the road. "Maester Seymour requests your presence there, ma'am." 

"Thank you," Yuna said, bowing slightly to the Crusader. 

"Take that road to the command centre. It's not far," said Clasko, again gesturing to the left hand fork. "We're still in the midst of our preparations this way. Sorry." 

"Thanks buddy," Buffy called out over her shoulder, as she followed the rest of the group down the left hand path. 

It lead deeper, into a strange rocky canyon at the back of which was the command centre. It was actually kind of weird the way the scenery had changed so abruptly from the Mi'ihen Highroad. Several times, they ascended to different levels along the way, by way of strange geyser-powered elevators, essentially nothing more than a slab of rock laid over an active geyser. 

Several times, they were attacked by fiends. Wakka, Tidus, and Auron did most of the fighting, heavy hitters the lot of them. Buffy doubted they were any match for her strength, but she figured it'd be unfair if she did all the work. 

They made it to the back of the canyon. There was a large lift here, operated by a series of springs, cogs, and pulleys. It looked like it belonged in a museum to Buffy. 

There were a couple of Crusaders there, token guards, the young Slayer guessed. After a moment, Buffy recognised them; they passed through the gate at the end of the Highroad before the Summoner's party had been let through. 

What were their names again? Luzzu and Gatta. 

Tidus turned towards them. The others followed. 

"Why only you, sir? I want to fight, too!" The shorter, darker-skinned, Crusader said, obviously agitated. He had black hair and dark eyes, and was armoured in green. This was Gatta.   
"Orders are orders," the taller, paler-skinned, Crusader said. He had red hair and blue eyes, armoured in purple. This was Luzzu. 

Buffy hadn't really been paying attention to them before, so this was the first good look she got. 

"I'm not a cadet anymore, sir!" Gatta argued angrily. "Let me go with you, and I'll prove it to them!" 

"Guarding the command centre is important too, you know," the older Crusader said, trying to sound reasonable. Gatta was incensed, so it had to be difficult on Luzzu. 

"But I came all the way from Besaid to fight Sin, sir!" The younger man yelled angrily. 

"I know," said Luzzu, responding calmly to Gatta's outraged yell. "But an order's an order. To your post, Crusader." 

"But, sir!" Gatta protested. The look on Luzzu's face was serious. Gatta turned and stormed past the guardians. Luzzu noticed Tidus. 

"They let you through, huh?" He asked. 

"Gatta deserves better…" Tidus said, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes followed the path that the Crusader had just taken. Buffy turned and followed his gaze. 

"I'm gonna go after him," the girl told Yuna. Yuna nodded, and watched Buffy turn to follow the path that Gatta had taken. 

It didn't take long for Buffy to find Gatta. He stood guard in front of the main tent. "You wanna talk about it?" She offered. 

"What's to talk about?" Gatta asked angrily. "Luzzu's treating my like I'm just a kid!" 

"Aren't you?" Buffy asked, smiling slightly at the angry look she got from the young Crusader. "Look at you. You're maybe a year older than me. What do you want to fight Sin for? You've got your whole life ahead of you." 

"All of which means nothing, if Sin continues to exist," Gatta said. "A life living in fear, constantly wondering if that monster is going to rise up out of the ocean to destroy your village, is no life at all. And besides, you're fighting Sin too! You're a guardian!" 

"Yeah," Buffy nodded her agreement. "Yeah, I guess I am. But I have a reason for fighting Sin. I'm fighting to protect my friends, and to make their dreams come true. What are you fighting for, Gatta?" 

"Sin has killed so many," Gatta said at length. It was clear that Sin had killed someone close to him, maybe even his parents. From what she understood about it, Sin left a lot of kids orphaned. 

"So it's revenge," said Buffy, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't impressed, but she wasn't really surprised either. "That doesn't solve anything. Do you really think it'll bring all the people Sin has killed back to life, if you go and get yourself crushed on some beach somewhere?" 

"But…" Gatta started. 

"Trust me when I say that there are better things to get killed for," Buffy continued, giving him a playful grin. She was not giving the young man a chance to answer her rhetorical question. "Why don't you try making a difference some other way? Become something other than a pointless sacrifice, if you want to honour those people killed by Sin." 

"I guess…" Gatta said, dejected. He brightened a moment later, as if struck by sudden inspiration. "Thank you," he said, bowing formally to Buffy. 

"Stop it! You're gonna make me blush," Buffy said, smiling. 

"My apologies," said Gatta, firing off a sharp salute. 

Buffy rolled her eyes, and turned away to explore what must have been the command centre. There were rows of cannons set up along the cliff, and what she now recognised as Al Bhed mechanics inspecting them. 

Walking to the edge of the cliff, she could see an army of Crusaders, all gathered on the beachhead, waiting expectantly for the time of combat. She let her eyes drift off to the distant ocean. 

"Am I doing the right thing?" She whispered to herself. She got the feeling that the part of Xander that now lived in her mind and heart agreed with her actions. That was enough to alleviate her immediate doubts. 

After a while, she was joined by the rest of her new friends. They walked back towards the tent that Gatta had been guarding. He saluted sharply again, when they approached. "The operation will begin shortly. Please check all your equipment." 

Buffy patted her sword, to show that she had checked it. "Um, you all right?" Wakka asked Gatta hesitantly. 

Gatta breathed a sigh, looking towards Buffy for a second. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay," he said, nodding. He ushered them into the tent, before returning to his post. 

"Girl, I don't know what you told him, but whatever it was, good job," said Wakka, clapping Buffy so heavily on the back that she stumbled forward a couple of steps. 

Inside the tent, there was a short, fat, bald man, dressed in resplendent golden robes. Obviously, he was a big fish around here. "I'd heard from Seymour, but I didn't know if we'd actually meet. Good to see you, Auron! Ten years, isn't it?" 

Lulu leaned towards Buffy and Tidus, who were sharing identical blank looks. "That's Wen Kinoc, one of the Four Maesters of Yevon," she said in a hushed voice. "He leads the warrior monks and also commands the Crusaders." 

Gatta stepped into the tent, saluting again. Was that all he knew how to do, Buffy wondered, rolling her eyes. "All troops ready to move at your command, sir!" 

Kinoc nodded. "Good. Dismissed." 

"Sir!" Gatta said, leaving the tent. 

"Tell me, Auron," said Kinoc. "Where have you been to, last ten years?" He was talking to Yuna's guardian like they were old friends, but the look on Auron's scarred face clearly said something else entirely. 

"We don't have time for this now, do we?" Auron said, a rhetorical question. 

"This plan won't work, you know that. We'll just let them dream a little longer," Kinoc said. 

"What?" Tidus almost yelled. 

"You can't do that!" Buffy protested. 

"Lord Kinoc…" Maester Seymour said, stepping into the tent. The half-human Maester gave Kinoc a look, and Kinoc nodded. 

"Oh, yes. Proceed," said Kinoc, nodding to a nearby Crusader. The young woman disappeared to pass on the order. 

Auron turned his back on Kinoc, turning towards Yuna and her other guardians, more specifically Tidus. "That Kinoc, a Maester?" He asked, chuckling darkly. 

Kinoc looked offended at Auron's rhetorical question. "I heard that, Auron. A lot has happened the last ten years. What were you doing, and where?" 

"Fulfilling a promise I made to a friend. I still am." 

"Geez, this guy could give Angel lessons in being cryptic," Buffy muttered to Tidus, thinking back on the first time she ever laid eyes on the vampire with a soul. There was no way Tidus could know what Angel was like, so he just nodded, a clueless look on his face. 

"Just tell me one thing: have you seen Zanarkand?" Kinoc asked. 

"That's a dumb question," said Buffy evenly. Kinoc gave her a hard, imperious, look, almost as if asking her what right she had to question him. 

"If a Summoner's pilgrimage has to end in Zanarkand, and Auron was Yuna's dad's guardian, then he would've gone with Yuna's dad to Zanarkand." That said, she turned and walked from the tent. She could feel eyes on her as she left. 

"I don't think that's what he meant," said Tidus, following her out. 

"I know," Buffy said, shaking her head. "He was talking about your Zanarkand, right?" 

"Huh?" Tidus asked. 

"It's nothing," Buffy dismissed, shaking her head. She turned away from the young man, letting her eyes wander over the distant waves. "You've been distant ever since we left Luca. You want to talk about it?" 

"Talk about what?" Tidus asked. 

"Whatever it is that's bothering you," Buffy answered. 

"Nah, it's okay," Tidus said, after a moment. "But hey, as long as we're on the subject, how come you're so distant?" He asked with a grin. 

"Noticed that, huh?" Buffy asked. "Kinda hoping nobody would. I—" 

"Sinspawn!" Someone screamed. 

"Let's go!" Tidus said, rushing back into the tent. Buffy followed quickly behind him. They didn't bother to stop in the tent, running right through and out the other end, where they came face to face with a huge Sinspawn. 

It looked to be made up of all the different Sinspawn that the Crusaders had gathered together. Somehow they'd become fused together into this monstrosity. It resembled a giant insect, with two great pincers and a hard-looking shell. 

Buffy drew her sword and took her place in the line, next to Auron and Tidus. "You do know how to use that thing, don't you?" Auron asked, a chuckle escaping his lips. 

"Very funny, gramps," Buffy said. Suddenly, the Sinspawn attacked with one of its pincers. 

Tidus launched himself at one of the monster's pincers. He slashed it once, dodging a counter attack, then slashed it again. Tidus ran back and forth slashing the target dodging four more times, before leaping back into line. The pincer evaporated in a cloud of pyreflies. 

"Let me show you how it's done," Auron said. He leapt forward, bringing his massive sword around in a brutal arc. The other pincer was destroyed. 

Buffy dodged one of the monster's fire spells. She ran at the Sinspawn. Using the monstrosity's huge body as a boost, she kicked off and launched herself into the air. She brought her new sword down hard, cleaving the monster in two. 

"I think I can take care of myself," Buffy quipped, with a grin. The grin faded when she turned to face Yuna. 

Beyond Yuna, something huge and monstrous was rising up out of the sea. This was beyond her abilities alone, Buffy knew instantly. This wasn't something that'd go down with a simple stake to the heart, even if that seemed to work for a lot of other things. No, this'd take violence on a level she wasn't sure she could deliver on her own. 

"Sin," Auron said in his calm impassive voice. 

"You're freaking kidding!" Buffy gasped. "That huge thing is Sin? I mean, I knew it was a monster and all but…" Buffy's voice trailed off. 

Sin's angry roar shook the surroundings. Minor Sinspawn peeled away from its monstrous body, swimming quickly towards the restless Crusaders waiting on the beach. They were soon embroiled in fierce fighting. 

Sin gathered an energy field about itself, glowing a brilliant blue-white. It was gathering energy for an attack! "Run!" Buffy yelled down at the fighting Crusaders. "Run! It's going to attack!" 

The Crusaders continued to fight. The light around Sin grew brighter still. An attack was imminent. She had to do something! 

And then, she knew what she had to do. Sin was going to kill every man and woman down on that beach; it was already building up the energy for its attack. She couldn't let that happen, but she needed help. 

The warm feeling in her heart that Buffy now recognised as Xander seemed to respond. She understood. Buffy closed her eyes, and tried to focus on that warmth that she felt within. "Please help me, Xander." 


	9. The White Knight’s Complications

_My note: yeah, it's been a while. In my defence, my computer completely crashed on me. I had to have the hard drive replaced, then the motherboard. It was… unpleasant. Then of course, I temporarily misplaced this.  
  
_

**Where Dreams End...**_  
9. The White Knight's Complications_

The Al Bhed machina weapon was fighting to overcome Sin's raw power, but it was an uphill battle. It was painfully obvious, from where Yuna was standing.

For the moment at least, the weapon diverted Sin's wrath, buying the Crusaders on the beach some time, buying Yuna and her guardians some time. There had to be something that they could do to avert this imminent tragedy.

The young Summoner glanced around, looking desperately to her guardians for inspiration.

That was when she saw Buffy, standing completely still, her eyes tightly closed. There was a look of concentration on her face. She was whispering something to herself, over and over.

"Please help me, Xander." It was like a mantra, a prayer, repeated over and over and over.

And suddenly Yuna felt it.

Power unlike anything Spira had witnessed in a little over a decade filled the air, charged it. This was the power of a true aeon, one born of a meaningful bond and an unbreakable will.

Yuna gasped, shocked. She had known that Buffy had come into contact with one of the fayth, that the fayth had agreed to be Buffy's aeon. She had known that Buffy had the potential to become a Summoner. She still felt shocked.

Buffy stood motionless in the centre of a magic circle, an unknown symbol glowing with the brilliant white light of a thousand suns. That light was made all the more brilliant by the pitch black clouds that suddenly blanketed the sky.

"What's this?" Maester Seymour asked, sounding equally shocked.

The symbol on the ground shattered into a thousand and one pieces, each of the pieces shooting up, piercing the veil of darkness that had fallen over the sky. Rays of brilliant light lanced down.

"She's summoning!" Wakka gasped.

A brilliant aeon tore through the black clouds, dispelling the darkness covering the land, galloping towards them. The aeon landed with a thunderous explosion, sending up a huge dust cloud.

Now that Yuna could see the aeon, she could tell that it wasn't any of the aeons that the Temples guarded.

The aeon stood nearly three times Buffy's height. He seemed to glow with an unearthly light. The aeon had the torso of a human, though he had four white feathered wings protruding from his back. He was partially armoured in gleaming silver armour, and he was armed with a long silver sword, protected by a huge silver shield. The aeon's lower half was that of a great white stallion, two more great white wings beating lazily to keep the aeon aloft.

Buffy opened her eyes, and Yuna could see a fierce resolve burning in those green depths. She pointed towards Sin, and said something, but Yuna couldn't make her words out.

The aeon nodded, and turned. He reared up on his hind legs, and took off into the sky, galloping out over the melee far below, where the Crusaders were fighting with the smaller Sinspawn.

Sin was almost finished building its attack. The White Knight wound up with his sword, just as Sin fired his attack. He smashed the radiant silver blade into the energy wave heading towards the coast.

The energy wave slowed, then stopped, then turned on Sin, with the aeon galloping forward right behind it.

With a roar of outrage, Sin took the full force of its own attack. Then the aeon struck at Sin with his radiant sword.

Everyone gasped, even Yuna, as Sin's entire arm came free of its body, and burst into a cloud of pyreflies. That any one aeon could do that to Sin in one blow was completely unthinkable!

Wounded, Sin gathered its remaining strength. Then, it turned, sinking deep beneath the waves, in a hasty retreat.

Buffy's aeon did not pursue it, but returned to her side. This time Yuna did hear Buffy's words. "Thank you…"

The aeon disappeared in a swarm of pyreflies. Buffy managed to remain standing, but only for a moment, before the fatigue of summoning her aeon set in, and she collapsed to the ground. Yuna rushed towards her.

Almost as background noise, the Crusaders made quick work of the Sinspawn, their confidence buoyed by Buffy's aeon. All of them let out a victorious roar.

Consciousness returned slowly. Buffy had never exerted herself this much; she felt completely drained still, though her enhanced healing would help her recover quickly enough.

The young woman was aware that she wasn't alone, that there were other people in wherever this was.

"With an aeon like that, she could defeat Sin, ya?" That was Wakka. It had to be; nobody else she knew had that accent.

"Then why didn't she?" That was Tidus. She could hear his enthusiasm, misplaced though it was. "Why didn't she beat Sin?"

Buffy felt a soft hand brush across her forehead with a damp cloth. "Buffy didn't have the stamina to maintain the summoning," Yuna said. Buffy could practically hear the sympathetic smile in her words. So, feeling this drained was part of summoning.

"That's not it," Buffy said, at length. She didn't open her eyes, but she was aware that all attention was now on her. "Xander did what I asked him to do: he saved those Crusaders, drove Sin away."

"Well, you wounded it bad, ya? Why not finish the job?" Wakka asked.

"Because I didn't want to deal with the consequences," Buffy responded quietly. The aeon that defeated Sin would become Sin, Buffy remembered. She couldn't let that happen to Xander. She'd find another way to defeat the monster.

The young woman opened her eyes, glancing around at her surroundings. Someone had moved her after she passed out. They were inside one of the Crusaders' tents. She was lying in a bed. Her equipment was neatly placed nearby.

Yuna was sitting on the edge of the bed, a damp cloth in her hands. Tidus and Wakka were standing at the edge of the light. Buffy sat up, pulled the covers aside, and pushed herself to her feet.

Yuna gave her a concerned look. "Should you really be on your feet?" Yuna questioned.

"I'm fine," Buffy dismissed with a shrug. "I heal fast."

"How can you be so selfish?" Tidus asked, and Buffy thought she could detect a note of anger in his voice. He gave her a look, which mirrored his tone of voice.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Buffy said coldly. Obviously, Tidus didn't know about what Sin was, about what happened to the soul of the aeon that defeated it. There was a price for the power to defeat Sin; it wasn't something she was willing to pay. There had to be another way.

"Tidus, please…" Yuna started.

"No, Yuna!" Tidus said angrily. "She could have ended it all! She could've defeated Sin! She didn't."

"You know what?" Buffy responded angrily. "I don't want to become another one of Yevon's sacrifices, so yeah, I pulled my punches. I'll find another way, a better way." She pulled her jacket on, and wrapped the sword belt around her waist.

"It's our decision," Yuna said quietly. Tidus and Buffy both looked to her, their imminent fight forgotten. Yuna gave Tidus and Wakka an apologetic smile. "Could we have a moment alone?"

Wakka nodded, and pulled Tidus from the tent. "Summoner stuff, ya?" He said cheerfully. Buffy thought she could hear a note of discomfort in his voice.

"It's our decision," Yuna repeated firmly. There was no arguing with the look on her face or the tone of her voice. Her strangely coloured eyes burned with resolve. "As Summoners, we choose to give up our lives to protect Spira. Why can't you understand that?"

"Because it's wrong," Buffy responded frustrated. "You shouldn't have to throw away your life! It's not fair."

"It may not be fair, but it is all the hope we have," Yuna said angrily. "If you cannot accept that, then… then, perhaps you should not have agreed to be my guardian."

Buffy stopped, stunned, stung by the Summoner's angry words. And before she knew it, her frustration got the better of her. "You know what?" Buffy asked angrily. "Fine! I don't want to be your stupid guardian anymore anyway!"

Yuna opened her mouth to say something, clearly shocked, but Buffy didn't let her speak. "I don't need you or your stupid Summoner's Arts. I'll find my own way!"

With that, the young woman turned, and stalked from the tent, leaving Yuna alone. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. The sun had long since set on the Crusaders' encampment – a city of tents with fires for warmth and light sporadically interspersed in the darkness – painting it in shades of deep blue and grey.

"Buffy, wait!" Yuna exclaimed, coming out of the tent. She tried to restrain her former guardian with a gentle hand on her arm, but Buffy wasn't in the mood to listen.

"No, Yuna," Buffy said, pulling her arm free. "There's no going back; we said what we said. I don't want to help you keep this lie alive."

Yuna remained silent. For the longest moment, she just watched her friend, as she vanished into the darkness once more. She wasn't going to come back, the young Summoner realised. Not this time.

Buffy was right about one thing: there was no going back. Yuna wondered if she would ever see Buffy again.

"What happened?" Lulu asked, coming to join Yuna.

"Buffy is… no longer my guardian," Yuna said, her voice hesitant. She felt Lulu's eyes on her, and a moment later she felt the black magician wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders. "She couldn't accept my pilgrimage."

That wasn't true. Buffy had an unspoken understanding of the Summoner's journey, and its final destination; she understood it better than any of Yuna's other guardians. There was something about Buffy – a hidden strength – that Yuna found comforting.

"I see." That was all Lulu had to say.

"Lulu… d-do you think I made a mistake?" Yuna asked.

The black magician looked at her young charge for a moment. Yuna always felt like Lulu could read her mind, when she looked at the Summoner like that, as though Yuna was an open book.

"It wasn't your decision to make," Lulu said, after a long moment. She offered Yuna a comforting smile, one of her rare facial expressions. Lulu reached up and wiped away tears Yuna didn't even know she'd shed. "Buffy couldn't accept your pilgrimage. That was her decision."

"Do you think she will be alright?" Yuna asked quietly.

"She can handle herself," the black magician said after a long moment. Yuna understood. The young girl tried so hard to hide her immense strength and speed, but it was all too evident when she fought. But there was more to life than fighting.

"That's not what I mean," Yuna said, shaking her head. "This isn't her world."

Stupid Summoner's pilgrimage, Buffy thought angrily. Stupid Yevon. Why couldn't Yuna understand? Why did things always have to be difficult?

Buffy shook her head, trying to clear some of the frustration, the anger, from her mind. It was clouding her better judgement. She'd already walked away from the only living friend she had in Spira. Where was she supposed to go now?

"I wonder what Giles would say," Buffy muttered to herself.

"He'd probably tell you that you have to hone, or something," Xander said with a shrug. Buffy jumped, surprised.

"Don't do that!" Buffy exclaimed at him. "You trying to give me a heart attack or something?"

"Sorry, Buff," Xander said, grinning like he wasn't sorry at all. Buffy shot him a look. "I haven't been around people for a while. I forget little things."

"Why are you here?" Buffy asked. "Not that I don't like the company or anything, but…"

"Well, you seemed like you could use a hand," Xander explained. "Don't know where to go, what to do next."

"I guess you've got a plan then?" Buffy asked, giving her friend a sidelong look. She continued walking, though she had no idea where she was walking to. The landscape had long since left behind the desolate features of Mushroom Rock Road; now she found herself walking through a pleasantly green countryside, like the Mi'ihen Highroad, and at the same time not.

"A suggestion," said the spirit of the fayth, giving her a smile.

"Yeah?" Buffy asked.

"You found me," Xander said. "Why not look for Willow's hidden fayth?"

"Where would I start?" Buffy wondered. She stopped, fixing the fayth walking next to her with a long questioning look. "The Temples? Maybe Will's one of them?"

Xander shook his head. "No. She's like me," Xander said.

"Great," Buffy grumbled. "I only found you because I was following Angel. How am I supposed to find her?"

"Looks like the way has just opened up." The spirit of the fayth nodded towards the road. There was a huge machine standing in her way. It was definitely an Al Bhed machina, and it didn't look like an everyday household appliance; it looked like a cannon on tank treads. "Good luck with that."

Xander faded from sight. "What? You're just going to leave me to deal with that huge thing on my own?"

"Intangible, remember?" Xander laughed, his voice little more than a whisper in her ear.

"Excuse me." The words were bright, way too cheerful and enthusiastic in Buffy's opinion. A young girl poked her head out from around the mechanical monstrosity. At least, Buffy thought the speaker was a young girl; it was difficult to tell underneath what looked very much like an orange wet-suit.

"Yeah?" Buffy asked.

"Are you a Summoner?" The girl asked. "The one that stopped Operation Mi'ihen?"

"Who the hell are you?" Buffy demanded. She was not having a good day, and this looked like just another complication she didn't need.

"Well, my name's Rikku," the girl said.

"Can you move this thing out of my way?" Buffy wondered out loud. She gestured to the cannon-thing in her way. Fiends were fine, but she wasn't sure she could hurt something made out of metal. At least, not as easily as she could break bones.

"Are you the one?" Rikku persisted. "It's really important."

"It always is, isn't it?" Buffy groaned, looking up to a cloudless sky, as if looking for some answer in the stars. "What if I am the one that summoned at Operation Mi'ihen? You gonna try and convince me to go on a pilgrimage too?"

"You… You don't want to?" Rikku asked, sounding a little confused.

She stepped fully out from behind the cannon-machina, scrutinising Buffy more thoroughly. She was younger than Buffy, the young Slayer realised, getting a better look at her now. The body language told Buffy as much.

"What kind of Summoner are you?" Rikku asked.

"I'm not a Summoner," Buffy said, breathing a sigh of frustration and crossing her arms over her chest. "And I don't want to be."

"Really?" Rikku squeaked, sounding even more surprised.

"Summoners are just…" Buffy trailed off angrily, unable to find the words to describe her frustration. Her thoughts went back to her conversation with Yuna. She both admired Yuna for her dedication, and hated her for it. Why did things always have to be so difficult, so complicated?

"That's great!" Rikku said, her voice enthusiastic once more. "You should come with us."

"Uh, 'us?'" Buffy asked, glancing around. "There's just you…"

"Oh!" Rikku said. She turned to the cannon-machina. "Lusd uh uid."

"Huh?" Buffy wondered. That had to have been that strange Al Bhed language, because she didn't understand a word of it. The meaning became clear, when, moments later, three other people appeared from inside the machina.

"So, you were gonna ambush me, huh?" Buffy asked, beginning to understand now. The machina wasn't just for show. She felt decidedly unimpressed.

"Well… Kinda," Rikku admitted.

"Crid ib!" One of the three men said, sounding almost exasperated. Buffy wondered what he'd just said. Rikku, who understood, breathed an annoyed sigh, and turned to the speaker, a crazy-looking blond man with tattoos all over.

"Ed'c ugyo! Cra cyed cra fych'd y Summoner!" Rikku shot back, her voice conveying her irritation almost as forcefully as her body language. "Pacetac, cra caasc ugyo!"

"Um, hello? What are you two talking about?" Buffy wondered, putting a halt to what was obviously well on the way to an argument, if Rikku's tone of voice was anything to go by. "I can't speak that wacky language of yours, so if you're going to fight, can you do it in English?"

"Oh," Rikku said. "Sorry about that. Sometimes Brother can be such a pain."

"Wait… That guy's your brother? And he's called Brother?" Buffy asked. How weird was that? She shook her head. "Never mind. I'm not sure I want to know. Can either of you point me to the nearest Temple?"

"Huh?" Rikku asked. "I thought you said you weren't a Summoner. What would you want to go there for?"

"I want to go talk to a fayth. I got questions. I figure they've got answers," Buffy said, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

"You don't want to go there," Rikku advised quickly. A little too quickly, in Buffy's honest opinion.

"Well, why not?" Buffy asked.

"Because the Maesters are probably looking for you," Rikku explained. Buffy gave her a questioning look. What could the Maesters possibly want with her? "Because nobody's ever seen an aeon like the one you summoned. They're gonna want to find out where you got it."

"That's not going to happen," Buffy said firmly. Those Maesters gave her the creeps, and she was not about to let them know where she met Xander. Even if she could remember exactly. They'd take him and lock him up in a Temple somewhere.

"So, why don't you come with us?" Rikku asked.

"Why not?" Buffy wondered out loud.

She wasn't a guardian anymore, so she didn't have to worry about sticking close to a Summoner. She had just one goal now, and that was to find Willow's fayth and, together with her friends, destroy Sin for good. Maybe these people could help.

"You know what?" Buffy asked. "I will go with you."

_So, now I'm hanging out with a group of Al Bhed. They seem pretty cool, and the upside is that they're not all anti-technology. I wonder if they have television…?_


	10. Lost Ones

_My note: Another part. Enjoy. Let me know what you think._

**Where Dreams End...**  
_10. Lost Ones_

Buffy found herself wandering along a pleasantly green landscape with Rikku; Brother and his group had long since split off to continue their mission. She could see a wall of trees rise up in the distance. Sheer cliffs rose up on both sides of her, leaving her potentially boxed in, should she be ambushed.

That was probably why the Al Bhed chose that place to set up their ambush. From what she understood, the Al Bhed were kidnapping Summoners, preventing them from completing their pilgrimages.

A part of her agreed with that plan, but deep down she knew that she couldn't force people to agree with her.

"So, how come don't you want to be a Summoner?" Rikku asked.

The Al Bhed girl had long since abandoned her strange wet-suit. Underneath it, the girl looked about fifteen years old. She had blonde hair, which she wore up in a messy ponytail, and strange green eyes that seemed to spiral in. The girl was dressed in an orange top and green shorts that were almost indecent.

"They're wasting their lives fighting something that's always going to come back!" Buffy said, frustrated. She fixed Rikku with a look. "You know what Sin is?"

"Well, Yevon says…" Rikku started.

"Yevon's a bunch of liars," Buffy said, scowling. What she wouldn't give to take her frustration out on some unlucky fiend or Sinspawn right now… "Sin isn't the problem."

"Huh?" Rikku asked.

"Okay, how did he put it?" Buffy muttered to herself. Why couldn't Xander pop in an explain this? Then again, Buffy wondered if Rikku could even see Xander. "There's this guy inside Sin, called Yu Yevon. Sin's like his armour."

"Yu Yevon?" Rikku asked, confused.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "My friend Xander told me about him. Every time a Summoner uses the Final Aeon to kill Sin, Yu Yevon merges with that aeon and starts all over again. So…"

"So, no matter how many times the Summoners defeat it, Sin will keep coming back!" Rikku gasped, a look of understanding on her young face.

"They're like the only ones who can't beat Sin for good. As long as there are aeons, there'll be Sin," Buffy said nodding. "I'm gunning for Yu Yevon. If I kill him, then, then…"

"Then Sin will disappear for good!" Rikku said. She was excited now.

"The only problem is getting close enough," Buffy muttered. "I mean, I'd have to go through Sin to get to Yu Yevon, so that idea's pretty much a bust."

Rikku's shoulders slumped, the wind removed from her sails. "Oh man. For a minute there, you really had me going. There's gotta be a way."

"There is. I… just haven't found it yet," Buffy said, trying to sound more confident than she actually felt. "That's why I need to find my friends. I'm hoping once I find Willow's fayth, I can get some straight answers."

"Wait a minute," Rikku said, stopping. Buffy stopped, turning to look at the young Al Bhed. "You're looking for a fayth?"

"A hidden fayth," Buffy said, nodding. "Like my friend Xander."

"Are you sure you don't want to be a Summoner?" Rikku asked suspiciously.

"Positive," Buffy said, giving Rikku an even look. "I want to be with my friends. I just gotta find them first."

"But, your friends are fayth?" Rikku asked. She seemed to have a hard time wrapping her mind around this concept. "That means they're like ancient, right?"

"At least a thousand years," Buffy admitted, with a shrug.

Rikku and Buffy continued on in silence…

_I'm left with the same problem: where am I supposed to start looking? It's worse than a needle in a haystack. I don't even know where the haystack is._

Yuna found herself watching the sunset from the bridge leading to the impressive Djose Temple. The dying orange light painted her surroundings, casting deep shadows.

After the ambiguous ending to Operation Mi'ihen, most of the Crusaders retreated here. There was plenty of work for Yuna, tending to the injured and dying. While Buffy's aeon saved the vast majority of the operation's participants, there were still casualties; Yuna healed and comforted where she could, and sent the souls of those she couldn't.

The warrior monks and the priests were saying that the arrival of the White Knight – the strange aeon Buffy called Xander – was a sign from Yevon. It was holy intervention, to inspire the Crusaders to right their heresy by rejoining the right path.

Yuna wasn't so sure.

Many people had lived because of Buffy's actions, and for that Yuna would always respect and admire her friend; Buffy set aside her distaste for the Summoner's Arts to save hundreds, maybe even thousands, of lives.

But after that they'd fought. Buffy decided that she wasn't going to be Yuna's guardian any longer. Yuna couldn't help but feel a little sad, a little disappointed, in Buffy's decision, though she knew it was made in the heat of the moment.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Tidus asked, startling Yuna from her train of thought.

"Buffy," Yuna answered quietly.

"Oh," Tidus said. Yuna thought she could detect a note of guilt in his voice. He was so easy to read, almost like a child sometimes; that was what Yuna adored about him.

"Listen," Tidus started uncertainly. "It's partly my fault she left. I shouldn't have pushed her. I'm sorry."

He reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Yuna leaned her head towards it, enjoying the feel of his touch for a moment.

"You don't need to apologise," Yuna said, turning to offer him an understanding smile. "Buffy could not understand my pilgrimage. She had to make her own decision."

Tidus ran a hand through his hair, scratching the back of his head. He gave her a nervous grin. "I'm not sure I understand your pilgrimage either, but I'll protect you."

Yuna felt herself blushing. She bowed, partly to hid her own flustered face. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Tidus said. "It's what guardians do, right?"

Yuna smiled, and nodded.

Taking Tidus' hand, she returned her attention to the sunset, unconsciously pulling him closer to her. They stood there watching for a long moment.

"Hey!" Wakka said.

"Hi, Wakka!" Tidus said, taking a step away from Yuna and grinning nervously. The young Summoner couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"You ready to go see da fayth?" Wakka asked.

"Yes," Yuna said, nodding. With one last look at the setting sun, she turned and followed the Besaid blitzer into the Djose Temple, comfortably aware of Tidus' presence nearby.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting inside the Temple. As with the other two Temples they'd visited along Yuna's pilgrimage, polished bronze statues of High Summoners loomed over them, ever watchful.

"Everybody ready?" Yuna asked cheerfully.

"You bet," Wakka responded.

"As ever," Tidus chimed in, grinning at her. Yuna nodded, and turned towards the stairs leading to the Cloister of Trials. Just as she reached the stairs, another Summoner's group appeared at the top.

"I beg your pardon," said the leader. He had fair skin, red hair, worn in a topknot, and brown eyes. He was dressed in voluminous green robes, the robes of a Summoner. "But may I ask your name?"

"I am Summoner Yuna," said Yuna, bowing respectfully. "From the isle of Besaid."

"As I thought!" The other Summoner said. Yuna couldn't help but notice how calm and collected his voice sounded. "The daughter of Lord Braska. You have the look of your father."

"My father?" Yuna asked, a slight frown settling on her delicate features. "You knew him?"

"No. I have never met the man," said the other Summoner. "Ah! My apologies. I am Isaaru. I am a Summoner, like you."

"I'm Pacce," said a small boy. He had dark skin, dark hair, and warm dark eyes. Unlike Isaaru, Pacce was dressed in functional clothing – a pair of shorts, an open vest, and a pair of sandals – that allowed him to move freely. "Pleased to meet you."

"And I'm Maroda," said the Summoner's other companion. Like the small boy, he had dark skin, dark hair, and warm dark eyes. He was dressed much as Pacce was, though there was armour on him, where there was none on Pacce. This was undoubtedly the Summoner Isaaru's guardian. "I'm guarding my big brother here."

"Since I was a child, I've always looked up to Lord Braska. I wished I would someday become a High Summoner like he was," Isaaru said, a wistful look in his eyes. "You must have some of your father's talent in you! I believe you might someday defeat Sin."

"If that other Summoner doesn't beat you to it," Pacce said.

"Pacce, please," Isaaru said calmly. "I must apologise for Pacce. News of Operation Mi'ihen travels fast. Pacce is excited about this unknown Summoner."

"Unknown Summoner…?" Tidus whispered to Wakka.

"Buffy," Wakka whispered back. "I guess nobody saw who did the summoning, ya?"

"It's quite alright," Yuna said, giving the small boy a radiant smile. She wondered, for a moment, if she should tell Isaaru about Buffy, but then dismissed the idea.

"I wish I could've seen it!" Pacce continued. "The priests are saying that it was some kind of sign from Yevon!"

"The aeon was… impressive," Yuna agreed, smiling.

"Then you were present?" Maroda asked. "You weren't the one…?"

"No," Yuna said, shaking her head. "The aeon wasn't mine. A friend of mine, Buffy, summoned it."

"I see," said Isaaru.

"Isaaru!" Maroda called, over his shoulder. The guardian was already halfway to the Temple doors. Isaaru nodded his understanding and turned to Yuna.

"I beg your leave," the other Summoner said. "Good luck, to both of us!"

"Yes," said Yuna, nodding her head in agreement. She smiled, watching them go, before turning to climb the stairs, her guardians following her up.

"Hey, you," Isaaru called out to Tidus. Yuna paused at the top of the stairs, wondering what the other Summoner would say.

"Me?" Tidus asked, pointing to himself and glancing around, in case the Summoner meant anyone else.

"You are Yuna's guardian, no?" Isaaru asked, though he already knew the answer to that question. Tidus nodded. "Maroda's heard a curious rumour. I thought you should know."

Tidus turned expectantly to the Summoner's guardian. "I heard it from those Crusaders. Seems that Summoners have been going out on pilgrimage and just… disappearing."

"It could be the fiends got them…" Isaaru said, sounding uncertain about his own theory. "But not so many so quickly."

Maroda shook his head, a concerned frown on his face. "Sorry I don't know more, but… watch your back. Ain't much future for a guardian without a Summoner, eh?"

"Well, we'd better be on our way. Please, be careful," Isaaru said. "Pacce!" Isaaru walked to the Temple doors, and the small boy joined him from where he'd been questioning a cluster of priests – no doubt about the mysterious and powerful aeon.

"Will do," Tidus promised, waving at the Summoner and his guardians. Then, he turned and climbed the steps to the entrance to the Cloister of Trials. Yuna met him at the top, with a warm smile.

"At least they're not like Dona," Tidus drawled, giving Yuna a grin. They turned and entered the Cloister of Trials…

Buffy and Rikku came to a stop on the banks of a wide river, stretched out across their path an impassable obstacle. "Great," Buffy muttered. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"This is the Moonflow," Rikku said knowingly.

"Why's it called that?" Buffy asked, giving Rikku a clueless look.

Rikku knelt down next to the river. She gestured to a cluster of beautiful floating flowers. "These're moonlilies," Rikku explained. The look on Buffy's face didn't change. The young Al Bhed chuckled. "You really are out of it."

"Hey! I'm from another world here!" Buffy protested.

"Uh-huh," Rikku said, eyeing the other girl dubiously. "People say that clouds of pyreflies gather here when night falls. The whole river is supposed to glow, like it's on fire!"

"Oh wow!" Buffy exclaimed, grinning as her imagination played out the scene. "That's something I wanna see!"

"Well, we're supposed to be meeting my old man on the other side," Rikku said uncertainly. She glanced over at the strange non-Summoner. "But I guess we could stick around for a while. I kinda want to see it myself."

"Great. I'm going to go stake myself out a comfortable spot," Buffy said. Rikku watched her wander off, a confused frown on her young face…

"You are distracted."

The haunting voice of Djose's fayth brought Yuna's attention back to the matter at hand. She had to concentrate, if she wanted to convince the fayth of the sincerity of her desire to defeat Sin.

It was hard work, physically taxing, especially in the heat of the Chamber of the Fayth.

"I'm sorry," Yuna said, bowing her head apologetically. "I am worried about my friend."

The fayth said nothing.

An expectant silence settled itself over the Chamber, and, while Yuna felt this sense of expectation, she didn't know exactly what was expected of her. Was she supposed to tell the fayth about Buffy and her aeon, and the rift that had opened up between the two of them, or was she supposed to continue in her efforts to attain the aeon?

After a long moment, she decided that it was best if she just told this fayth about Buffy.

"Buffy – my friend summoned an aeon," Yuna started uncertainly. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this; there were Summoners in training all over Spira, and the summoning of any one particular aeon wasn't uncommon.

"He was more powerful than anything I have ever witnessed," Yuna continued. "She could have defeated Sin… Her aeon was… righteous, radiant… a winged knight."

Yuna closed her eyes, trying to picture every detail of Buffy's unknown aeon with her mind's eye, trying to remember everything she'd experienced in those short moments of the aeon's summoning. "She called him… Xander."

"One of the Lost Ones," the fayth said.

Yuna thought she saw the faint look of recognition about the fayth's eyes, but when she looked again, it was gone. "L-Lost Ones?" She questioned, uncertainly, hesitantly. "Do you mean that his fayth is lost?"

"It was hidden a long time ago, by a man who could not die," said the fayth. "That his fayth has been discovered, and he has granted his strength to anyone, can mean only one thing: the Lost Ones have found their Saviour, their Chosen One."

"Saviour…?" Yuna mouthed.

And then she understood. Everything she had already experienced on her journey, every interaction, every feeling… it all fell into place. She knew who this Saviour was supposed to be. "Buffy!"


	11. Wanted All Across Spira

_My note: okay, it's a short update, only six and a half pages. They're all going to be like that, until I can remember where I meant this to go. I'm going to try and finish this story, but I make no promises._  
  


**Where Dreams End...**   
_11. Wanted All Across Spira_

  
The Lost Ones and their legacy…  
  
Yuna found her thoughts dwelling on the scraps of information that Ixion's fayth had given her, dwelling on the startling revelation that her friend, Buffy Summers, was some kind of messianic figure, that her presence in this world was enough to change everything.  
  
According to Ixion's fayth, the Lost Ones believed that the fate of whole worlds balanced on the shoulders of certain key individuals, that the presence of these individuals was enough to move mountains if necessary.  
  
The Lost Ones were rumoured to hail from another plane of existence, an entirely different world. Just like Buffy.  
  
Yuna couldn't help but think about what the Lost Ones believed: the fate of whole worlds were balanced on the shoulders of certain individuals.  
  
It went against everything she believed, everything she felt she stood for… But there was so much evidence to support that belief.  
  
Even now, the four Maesters of Yevon guided Spira. Even now, Summoners from all over Spira journeyed on pilgrimages in the hopes of gaining the strength to change Spira's fate. Everything around her told her that Spira's fate was indeed determined by a chosen few, and, if the Lost Ones were correct, then the coming of their Messiah, their Chosen One, would forever change Spira.  
  
For the better, or for the worse.  
  
The young Summoner found herself once again watching the sunset from the bridge leading to the Djose temple. The majority of the Crusaders and the warrior monks of Yevon had moved on, retreated to various different parts of Spira. Djose felt strangely empty.  
  
Maybe it was because Yuna now felt the absence of her friend and guardian more acutely than ever.  
  
"Whatcha thinking about?" Tidus asked, unconsciously echoing his own words from a day before.  
  
Yuna smiled. "Buffy."  
  
"Oh," said Tidus.  
  
"We have to find her," Yuna said, turning to face him. The decision, now out in the open, sounded much more certain, much more concrete, than it felt.  
  
"Yeah," Tidus said, nodding his agreement. "She's kinda important, huh?"  
  
"To all of Spira," said a new voice. They turned to see Maester Seymour, flanked by a dozen of warrior monks, along with his two customary guado bodyguards. There was something about the smile on his lips that Yuna found disconcerting. "Tell me, Lady Yuna, do you know where we might find the Lady Summoner?"  
  
"Buffy's no Summoner," Tidus corrected, chuckling darkly.  
  
"Indeed," Seymour responded calmly. "Perhaps not yet, but with powers as strong as hers, she must be carefully schooled in the Summoner's Arts, trained in Yevon's teachings."  
  
"Forgive me for saying this, Maester Seymour, your worship, but I don't think Buffy's gonna want to learn the teachings, ya?" Wakka said, walking up to join Yuna and Tidus. "It's kinda why she left us in the first place."  
  
Tidus and Yuna nodded their agreement. Seymour didn't seem deterred. "I'm sure I can bring her about to our way of thinking."  
  
Yuna didn't like the way that sounded, but knew better than to voice her opinion. "Well anyway," Tidus said, quickly changing the subject. "We don't know where she went. She just up and left. Maybe she went back to Luca."  
  
Yuna frowned slightly at Tidus' words. Buffy probably wouldn't have gone back to Luca. "Indeed?" Seymour asked, though he didn't sound any more convinced than Tidus. "We must be going. I bid you a good journey, Lady Yuna, and I hope we will meet in the future."  
  
Yuna bowed deeply, performing Yevon's prayer and so did Wakka. Tidus just watched the procession go. "That's going to complicate things," Tidus said.  
  
"We have to find Buffy," Yuna reaffirmed.  
  
"What for?" Wakka asked incredulously. "She mocks everything that Yevon stands for!"  
  
"It… She is important," Yuna responded. She didn't want to go into detail. She didn't know how it would sound, once she'd put what she knew into words.  
  
There were powerful fayth out there, outside of the Temples and their teachings, and they had their own ideas about what would happen to Spira. And Buffy was their messenger. The thought was both comforting and terrifying at once.  
  
The Moonflow… What can I say, guys? There really aren't any words to describe it. It's just… breathtaking. I wish I had the time to hang around, to see all that Spira had to offer.  
  
The sun had long since set, and though it was an awe-inspiring sight, shades of red, and orange, and pink, and yellow lighting up the sky, it was nothing compared to this.  
  
Buffy was glad she'd found a comfortable spot, in the shade of a large tree. She and Rikku lay there, watching the spectacle in silence.  
  
It hadn't started until even the slightest trace of the sun's light had faded from the horizon. One by one, the stars had come out, a river of twinkling lights in the sky.  
  
Even that was impressive. Buffy was a city girl. She never got to see more than the brightest of stars. Even that paled in comparison when the Moonflow earned its name.  
  
At first, Buffy though that the twinkling lights in the wide river were just a reflection of the stars in the sky, but then she realised the truth. One by one, the moonlillies were opening up, releasing swarms of pyreflies into the air. They gathered in great clouds over the river, until the cosmos paled in comparison to the brilliant lights, the fire, of the pyreflies.  
  
Buffy didn't know how long she'd been watching that, before she noticed the presence of someone else. Looking up, she found herself looking at two familiar faces, Crusaders.  
  
"Lady Summoner," said the older of the two. Buffy thought his name was Luzzu. Both bowed deeply.  
  
"Cut that out," Buffy said immediately, glancing around to see if anyone had spotted them. She didn't want the kind of attention that being a Summoner usually brought with it. "I'm not a Summoner, and I don't want to be."  
  
"But, you saved us all!" Gatta argued.  
  
"That's right," Buffy said, nodding to herself. "But that's because I couldn't just let you all die, not because I'm a Summoner. And right now you're blocking my view of the Moonflow. Wouldja mind moving just a little?"  
  
Luzzu and Gatta stepped aside. "My lady, we owe you our gratitude," said Luzzu.  
  
Buffy breathed a deep sigh, closing her eyes slightly. "What are you going to do with your lives, now that they're actually gonna continue?"  
  
"We shall return home to the Island of Besaid," Luzzu said. Gatta nodded his agreement. "We shall defend it from Sin."  
  
"Because that's what Crusaders do?" Buffy asked, opening her eyes, fixing first Luzzu with a look, then Gatta.  
  
"Because it's our home," Gatta said.  
  
"Cool," Buffy said, with a warm grin. She returned her attention fully to the Moonflow.  
  
"My lady, there is another matter," Gatta said.  
  
"Yeah?" Buffy asked. "What's that?"  
  
"The Maesters have given orders that you are to be delivered to Bevelle," Gatta said.  
  
"What?" Rikku piped up.  
  
"So I'm like a wanted criminal now?" Buffy asked, annoyed.  
  
"You must be careful," Luzzu counselled. "We Crusaders are outcasts of Yevon – we have abandoned the teachings – and thanks to your actions during Operation Mi'ihen, most of our number are likely to let you pass, however the warrior monks are a different matter, as are the temple priests."  
  
"I'll watch my back," Buffy agreed, nodding her head. "Thanks guys."  
  
Both Crusaders bowed deeply. "It was our honour to aid you, my lady," Gatta said.  
  
Buffy kick-flipped to her feet, watching as the two Crusaders moved up the road and away from the Moonflow. She turned her attention towards the younger Al Bhed girl, lying comfortably in the grass next to her.  
  
"Come on," she said, offering Rikku a hand up. A note of anxiety crept unwittingly into her voice. "We should get going. We don't want to keep your old man waiting."  
  
"No, I guess not," Rikku said, clearly nervous.  
  
Rikku took her hand and allowed Buffy to pull her up to her feet. "What are the chances we can ride one of those elephant things across the river?"  
  
And just like that, I became a wanted man, er, person, and something told me that I wouldn't like it if the Maesters ever did catch up to me…  



	12. Across the Moonflow

_My note: it's not just that I'm having trouble with writing this, because, in all honesty, I'm not. Instead, I'm thinking it needs a rewrite. I'm thinking the events and the message of the story would be better suited in X-2, instead of X._

**Where Dreams End...**  
_12. Across the Moonflow  
_

The Summoner's party arrived at the Moonflow early the next morning. The sun was just rising, and some of the pyreflies lingered over the water, though the moonlillies had long since closed, and would not open again until the sun set once more.  
  
There weren't many travellers on Spira's roads. Only the Crusaders and the Summoners frequently travelled, but there were a fair number of people gathered at the Moonflow.  
  
Yuna noticed Tidus taking a moment to familiarise himself with this scene. From what she could remember of Sir Jecht's tales, his Zanarkand was a machina city, so Tidus wouldn't be used to the simple wonders of nature.  
  
"This is the Moonflow," Lulu said.  
  
"These are moonlillies," Yuna said, kneeling down to show Tidus a pale white flower. It was closed at the moment, but it would open after sunset. "They say that clouds of pyreflies gather here when night falls."  
  
"The entire river glows," Lulu added, having actually seen the Moonflow at night, on one of her previous pilgrimages. "Like a sea of stars."  
  
"Really?" Tidus asked, sounding interested. "Hey, I got an idea!"  
  
Yuna couldn't help but laugh softly at this. He wanted to see the Moonflow. She couldn't blame him; she wanted to see it too. If only there was more time…  
  
"We're not waiting 'til nightfall," Auron said gruffly.  
  
"Then, once we beat Sin, we're coming back!" Tidus said. Yuna's smile faded a little. Tidus really didn't understand her pilgrimage. He didn't understand the cost that the power to defeat Sin came with. She nodded, hoping he didn't see the sadness in her eyes.  
  
"Hey," said Wakka, changing the subject. "We better hurry or we'll miss the shoopuf!"  
  
It worked. Tidus frowned, his thoughts of the Moonflow forgotten. "Shoopuf?" He asked, sounding confused. "Is that some kind of boat?"  
  
Wakka chuckled slightly, pointing in the direction of the dock. Even from a distance, the shoopuf was clearly visible, a mammoth animal, towering over even some of the smaller trees. It was large and grey, with a funny nose, shaped like a trunk.  
  
The Hypello – strange-looking mellow people who'd supposedly lived in the water so long they started to look like fish – had erected a crane mechanism on the dock. This was to hoist passengers up onto the backs of the tame shoopuf that would ferry them across the Moonflow.  
  
"Whoa," Tidus breathed, trying to find appropriate words for what he was seeing. "What the… whoa!"  
  
"This is a shoopuf," Wakka said, giving the other guardian a knowing smirk.  
  
"Whoa…" Tidus breathed again, but this time there was a look of excitement on his face. "Let's ride! Come on, let's go!"  
  
"All right!" Wakka acquiesced, still smirking. "We board as soon as we're ready, ya?"  
  
As a group, they moved towards the dock, though Auron moved off to talk to O'aka.  
  
Yuna got a better look at the Hypello driver. She'd seen Hypello before, of course, there had been Hypello at Luca, for the tournament, but she'd never seen one up close. She was disturbed to find that she couldn't really tell this Hypello from the ones she'd seen in Luca.  
  
He did look a little fishy, lending credit to the rumours she'd heard of Hypello origins. He was short, shorter even than Buffy. His skin was grey-blue and his eyes were different from hers and Tidus', somehow more fish-like. He was dressed in what looked like a pair of red overalls.  
  
"Ride ze shoopuf?" The short Hypello asked.  
  
"I'm ready!" Tidus said, enthusiastically. He glanced around, noticing that Auron had returned. "Let me on!"  
  
"All aboards!" The driver said. The group boarded the crane, and were hoisted up so that they could board the shoopuf's passenger compartment, a kind of platform strapped to the shoopuf's back. The Hypello, more used to the rigors of driving the shoopuf, scrambled up, seating himself comfortably on the shoopuf's shoulders.  
  
"Shoopuf launchin'!" The driver called. A moment later, there was a lurch, and they'd set off…  
  
_I gotta say, the Al Bhed idea of Home wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I mean, location is everything, and these guys decided the middle of the desert was prime real estate. Vegas it ain't.  
_  
  
Home loomed. That was the right description of it. It loomed over the desert, casting a long shadow against the yellow sands. Compared to the other places in Spira that Buffy had visited, this was a technological paradise, but there were still some things that the Al Bhed hadn't mastered yet.  
  
Proper indoor lighting was one of those things.  
  
They could improve this place so much, if they'd just introduce the common light bulb, Buffy thought irritated, as, for what seemed like the hundredth time, she found herself wandering the lower corridors of the Al Bhed Home, hopelessly lost.  
  
There was something here, something that called out to her, but she had no idea what it was. There was something here, something so familiar…  
  
"Are we there yet?" Rikku complained, disrupting Buffy's focus.  
  
"I didn't ask you to come along, you know," Buffy said darkly. She'd lost track of the number of times her young Al Bhed friend had asked her that same question several dark corridors and a couple of flights of stairs ago.  
  
"Well, you seemed so out of it," Rikku squeaked.  
  
"Let me ask you something, Rikku," Buffy said calmly. "Why a desert? Why wouldn't you put Home on some tropical island, or something?"  
  
"We wanna make it hard for the Yevonites to find," Rikku said, shrugging. "Plus, the remains of an ancient machina city lie buried in the sand, so it's easy to dig for parts."  
  
"I guess," Buffy said. "But couldn't you have put it next to an oasis or something? You know, for some…"  
  
Buffy didn't get much further than that. Whatever it was that called to her was very nearby now. The girl looked around, finding that she'd somehow found her way to the bottom of a very deep shaft. Old staircases and twisted metal walkways led down here via circuitous routes.  
  
Buffy felt her eyes drawn inexorably down, to the floor beneath her feet. "Whatever it was I was looking for," Buffy murmured, kneeling down to brush away some of the sand that seemed to gather everywhere in Home. There was a hatch underneath.  
  
"I think you found it," Rikku breathed, finishing Buffy's sentiment. "I've never heard of anything down lower than this."  
  
"What do you know about this place, anyway?" Buffy wondered, still clearing away the sand. The hatch looked heavily rusted over, like it hadn't been used in years.  
  
"This used to be part of a machina city," Rikku explained, kneeling to help her friend. "Sin destroyed the island where we used to live. We were scattered to every corner of Spira. We put our minds to it, and this sorta became our new Home."  
  
"Hence the name," Buffy said, giving Rikku a nod of understanding. "I wonder what it was before that."  
  


* * *

  
"Hey," said Wakka, nudging Tidus in the ribs. "Take a look."  
  
The Besaid Blitzer gestured out to the Moonflow, to the clear depths beneath the surface of the water. "What?" Tidus asked. For a moment, he saw nothing but the surface of the rippling water, and the reflections that the light cast upon it. "Whoa!"  
  
There was a city down there, Yuna realised, gasping at her own surprise. She'd always heard of the ruins, but she'd never thought they'd be anything like this.  
  
There was a whole city down there, complete with tall buildings, neatly paved roads, and everything else that made a city a city. Except for the people, who had long since died.  
  
"A sunken city!" Tidus gasped.  
  
"A machina city," Wakka clarified. "A thousand years old! They built a city on top of bridges across the river."  
  
"But the weight of the city caused the bridges to collapse," Lulu added, glancing over the side. "And it all sank to the bottom."  
  
"Right," Wakka agreed. "It's a good lesson."  
  
"A lesson?" Tidus murmured. Yuna could read the question on his face. How could that possibly be a lesson?  
  
"Yeah," Wakka said sagely. "Why build a city over a river, ya?"  
  
"Uh, well, it would be convenient," Tidus said. "With all that water there."  
  
"Nope," said Wakka, shaking his head. "That's not why. They just wanted to prove they could defy the laws of nature!"  
  
Tidus didn't look convinced. Perhaps, Yuna considered, it was because he was from a machina city, and thus had a unique perspective on things. She wondered, briefly, how their beliefs had to look from his perspective. She wondered how Buffy saw her beliefs. "I'm not sure about that," Tidus said.  
  
"Yevon has taught us: when humans have power, they seek to use it," Wakka said. "If you don't stop them, they go too far, ya?"  
  
"Yeah, but don't you use machina too?" Tidus wondered. There was an underlying question there. How could one kind of machina be inherently wrong, while another kind was acceptable? It was a good question, Yuna thought, considering it for the first time. "Like the stadium and stuff, right?"  
  
"Yevon," Wakka answered. "It decides… which machina we may use, and which we may not."  
  
"So, what kind of machina may we not use, then?" Tidus asked, pressing the issue.  
  
"Remember Operation Mi'ihen?" Wakka asked, as if any of them could possibly forget it. "That kind."  
  
"Or war will rage again," Lulu said quietly.  
  
"War?" Tidus asked.  
  
"More than a thousand years ago… Mankind waged war using machina to kill," Yuna told the Zanarkand Blitz star, giving him a soft smile. Her eyes wandered out over the water once more, trying to drink in this sight, the sight of a sunken city.  
  
Perhaps this was the perfect place to have this conversation, Yuna mused. Here out over the Moonflow, the sunken city a silent testament to the power of machina, and mankind's will, it became clear what evils were possible.  
  
But, as with Operation Mi'ihen, weren't great acts of good, of charity, also made possible by machina, even forbidden machina?   
  
Yuna felt herself lost in these questions. Had it not been for the presence of Tidus and Buffy, she would not have considered these other points of view. She was a Summoner, a follower of Yevon, but she felt her faith being sorely tested.  
  
"It's because of people like the Al Bhed screwin' everything up!" Wakka's loud accusation brought Yuna back to reality.  
  
"The Al Bhed aren't all bad guys, Wakka," Tidus dismissed, shaking his head. "When I first came to Spira, a bunch of them saved me, gave me food."  
  
Yuna smiled at him, feeling a grateful feeling rush through her.  
  
"Buffy was with an Al Bhed girl," Auron added.  
  
"What?" Wakka asked, sounding almost outraged.  
  
"She is a good judge of character," Auron said. "If nothing else, the events of Operation Mi'ihen should have taught you that she is no threat to Spira."  
  
"How'd you know all that, anyway?" Tidus asked.   
  
"The merchant, O'aka, told me," Auron grunted, giving his protégé a smile which never quite reached his eyes.  
  
"How long ago did she pass through here?" Yuna asked, a note of anxiousness creeping into her voice. "Is she alright? Tell us!"  
  
"She's only half a day ahead of us," Auron said. "If we hurry, we could make it to Macalania temple at the same time as she does."  
  
"What makes you think she's even going there?" Tidus asked.  
  
"She will want to question the fayth," said Yuna, closing her eyes. If Ixion's fayth knew about the Lost Ones, then there was a chance that the fayth resting in Macalania would know about them as well, maybe it would even know more. "She is looking for her friends."  
  
"Her friends?" Tidus asked. Understanding passed across his face. "You mean the fayth. There's other fayth out there, like the one that let her summon?"  
  
His last question left Yuna's guardians in an unsettled silence, as each of them considered the idea that an inexperienced Summoner, like Buffy, already capable of defeating Sin, would grow even more powerful…  



	13. The mystery that was and is Buffy

My note: I seem to be having a little difficulty with the formatting, having recently upgraded my Netscape. If anyone notices any problems, please let me know.

* * *

Where Dreams End...  
13. The mystery that was and is Buffy  
  
Once they'd cleared a sufficient amount of sand from the old hatch, Rikku gave it an experimental tug. The rusty old hatch didn't move an inch. "What now?" Rikku wondered out loud. "How are we supposed to move that thing?"  
  
Buffy reached down, gripping the edge of the hatch firmly. The metal groaned, as she started to pull. With a scream of twisting metal, the hatch came free.  
  
"Like that?" Buffy asked, shooting Rikku a grin.  
  
"Hey… How'd you do that?" Rikku asked, sounding a little jealous.  
  
"I got super powers," Buffy responded, with a shrug. She found herself leaning over, cautiously looking into the deep shaft. "Comes with being me."  
  
"Really?" Rikku asked. "How come?"  
  
"It's this whole pesky destiny thing," Buffy said, swinging her legs into the shaft. "Looks like there's a ladder going down. You coming with?"  
  
With that, she disappeared into the shaft. Rikku hesitated a moment, then followed her friend down into the darkness. They climbed down in silence. The shaft itself seemed to go on endlessly, down into the bowels of the earth. It felt like they'd been climbing down forever, until they reached the bottom.  
  
They entered into a large chamber. A very familiar-looking chamber.  
  
As soon as they set foot in the chamber, thousands of little lights lit up the ceiling, each one a cold blue-white. There was a subtle difference between these stars and the stars she'd seen in the cavern hidden on the Mi'ihen low road; they were somehow a darker, more primal magic, giving Buffy the sense that they were a force of nature unto themselves.  
  
"Wow," Rikku breathed, looking around the room.  
  
"Be careful," Buffy murmured, herself taking in her surroundings. As she expected, the hatch through which they'd first arrived slid shut.  
  
"Oh no!" Rikku gasped. "We're trapped!"

* * *

"We have been expecting you, Lady Yuna," said the guado.  
  
He was old, for a guado. He had green spiky hair, that, like the rest of his race, resembled the branches of a tree, and a green beard. His hands were long, his fingers ending in sharp points. He was dressed in a set of crimson robes, marked with guado markings.  
  
"Welcome to Guadosalam," said the guado. "This way, my lady. This way."  
  
Yuna moved to follow the guado, but Wakka and Tidus intercepted him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wakka protested.  
  
"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the guado, obviously noticing something was wrong. "I am called Tromell Guado. I am in the direct service of our leader, the great Seymour Guado. Lord Seymour has very important business with Lady Yuna."  
  
This was news to Yuna. The last time she'd seen Maester Seymour, he'd been after her friend and former guardian, Buffy. "Business with me?" Yuna asked, frowning slightly. "Whatever could it be, I wonder?"  
  
"Please," said Tromell. "Come inside the manor. All will be explained. Of course, your friends are also welcome." Tromell proceeded into the manor, allowing Yuna and her guardians to follow him inside.  
  
Like the rest of Guadosalam, Maester Seymour's manor was strangely alien. It appeared to have been constructed from the roots of a very large tree, and the tree root design was prevalent everywhere Yuna looked. Perhaps the guado had developed this architectural preference, because their home, Guadosalam was underground, in a network of caves.  
  
"This way, please," Tromell said. The guado led them into a large hall, obviously designed to entertain the occasional guests. "I will go inform Lord Seymour. Please wait here."  
  
Yuna found herself looking around. There were portraits of all the great guado leaders hanging in the hall. The young Summoner only recognised one portrait, that of the late Maester Jyscal Guado, Maester Seymour's father. Maester Jyscal Guado was a great man, and he did much for Yevon, spreading its teachings to the guado.  
  
Tromell reappeared. "Lord Seymour will be with you shortly."  
  
"Okay," Tidus said, shrugging. Yuna smiled, and nodded.  
  
"Truly, it is good to have guests again," Tromell said. "Since Lord Jyscal passed away, these halls have been too quiet."  
  
"The death of Lord Jyscal was a great loss for all of Spira," Yuna said, her voice quiet and polite.  
  
"Was this Maester Jyscal really such a great guy?" Tidus whispered to Wakka.  
  
"He brought the teachings of Yevon to the Guado," Wakka responded solemnly. "He was truly a great man."  
  
"Truly, a loss for us all," Tromell said, though whether he was responding to Wakka or to Yuna, the young Summoner couldn't tell. "But now a new leader, Lord Seymour, has come before us. Lord Seymour is the child of a guado and a human. He will be the tie that binds our two races together. But that is not all, I think. Lord Seymour… He will surely become a shining star that lights the way for all the peoples of Spira."  
  
"That is enough, Tromell," said Seymour, entering the grand hall from a side door. "Must I always endure such praise?" He turned to Yuna and her guardians, spreading his arms wide in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome!"  
  
Yuna took a step towards the Maester. She still felt nervous talking to the Maesters, still felt out of place around them. She was a Summoner, true, but she was no different from Lady Dona or Lord Isaaru, except that her father was High Summoner.  
  
"You… wanted to see me?" Yuna asked.  
  
"Please," said Seymour. "Make yourselves at home. There's no rush."  
  
Auron stepped forward. "Please, keep this short. Yuna must rush." Yuna envied him his confidence sometimes, as she envied it in Tidus and in Buffy.  
  
In Auron's case, it came from his experience, as one of her father's guardians. In Tidus' case, it came from not knowing the truth behind the Summoner's pilgrimage. In Buffy's case, it came from a complete understanding of the Summoner's pilgrimage, and all of the consequences thereof. None of them would have had any problem speaking his or her mind to a Maester, as experience had already shown. Yuna secretly envied that.  
  
"Pardon me," Seymour responded, sounding dutifully reprimanded. "It has been a long time since I had guests. Lady Yuna, this way."  
  
Seymour led Yuna and her group into another room. Before they knew what happened they were surrounded by images, feelings, projected from some unknown source. "This sphere is a reconstruction created from the thoughts of the dead that wander the Farplane."  
  
"Zanarkand," Tidus breathed, looking around at their surroundings. He had a look of deep nostalgia on his face.  
  
Yuna could finally see, first hand, the city that Tidus longed to return to. She could see the city that Sir Jecht had so vividly described. Tall, strangely familiar, spires stretched up, threatening to steal away the very stars. There were people all around, or, at least the echoes of people. There were bright colours and lights, and in the dark night, the city seemed to glow, vibrantly alive.  
  
"Correct," Seymour said. "Zanarkand… as it looked one thousand years ago. The great and wondrous machina city, Zanarkand. She once lived in this metropolis."  
  
"She who?" Yuna found herself asking, even as the image of a sliver-haired young woman appeared. "Lady Yunalesca!"  
  
Her namesake, Yuna realised, as she watched the image. Lady Yunalesca was the first Summoner ever to have defeated Sin, using her husband, Lord Zaon, as her fayth.  
  
As Yuna watched, the silver-haired young woman was joined by a man dressed entirely in crimson armour, and two others, a young woman with fiery red hair, and a dark-haired young man. The man in the crimson armour was unmistakably Lord Zaon, but Yuna didn't recognise the other two.  
  
The fiery redhead was dressed almost entirely in black. Her skin was so pale, that the contrast cast to her skin made her stand out, larger than life. On closer inspection, there were streaks of black in her red hair. Her green eyes were friendly enough, if haunted.  
  
There was the same light in her young man's eyes, friendly, but haunted, as though he'd seen more than he was comfortable with. His skin was not as ivory pale as hers, but it wasn't exactly tan either. His body was wiry, well-muscled, and this was evident even through the dark red tunic he wore over black trousers. He was a fighter, a warrior. He was armed with a wicked-looking long sword, a reflective crimson blade.  
  
"She was the first person to defeat Sin and save the world from its ravages," Seymour intoned solemnly, referring to Lady Yunalesca. "And you have inherited her name."  
  
"It was my father who named me," Yuna whispered, her eyes transfixed not by her namesake, but by her unknown companions. There was something about them, something familiar. Particularly about the dark-haired young man.  
  
"Lord Braska was entrusting you with a great task," Seymour said. "He wanted you to face Sin, as Lady Yunalesca did. However, Lady Yunalesca did not save the world alone."  
  
"Who are those other people," Tidus asked, before Seymour could go on.

* * *

I don't think Rikku really liked it down there. I'm not sure I did either. I was pretty much a crypt, and there was no telling what surprises the people that built it had in store for us.

* * *

"Don't worry," Buffy told the Al Bhed girl. "Just stay close to me, and we should be okay."  
  
This cavernous chamber was surprisingly similar to the first room that she'd had to figure her way through to reach Xander. It was large and circular, and there was a pedestal standing in the centre of the chamber.  
  
Just like last time, there was a statue, carved in her likeness, holding out her hands, holding out twin glowing spheres. Just like last time, there was one dark sphere and one light.  
  
"This is just how a Cloister of Trials is supposed to look," Rikku said, looking around. Then she spotted the statue of Buffy. Her eyes went from Buffy to the statue and back again. "Hey! Not a bad likeness, huh?"  
  
"I guess," Buffy responded, shrugging. "It's actually kinda creepy. I mean, I just got here, and there are statues of me."  
  
"Wonder who built this place," Rikku wondered out loud.  
  
"Probably the same people that built your Home," Buffy responded. "I'm pretty sure there's a fayth around here, and I'm pretty sure they didn't want Yevon to get its hands on her."  
  
"Huh?" Rikku said, frowning, confused.  
  
Buffy removed the two spheres from her stone counterpart's hands, and stepped up to the pedestal. She weighed the dark sphere experimentally in her hand.  
  
"Hey! Wait!" Rikku said quickly, when it became apparent that Buffy planned to place the dark sphere into the pedestal.  
  
"What?" Buffy asked innocently. "It worked last time."  
  
"Is this anything like last time?" Rikku asked. "I don't want to get blown up or anything."  
  
"That won't happen," Buffy said, sounding less than sure of herself. When she'd put the dark sphere in place last time, she'd found herself fighting some kind of hell-hound fiend. "Okay, you get to choose. Which sphere do I put in?"  
  
"The light one," Rikku said quickly.  
  
Buffy looked at her friend. Rikku sounded pretty sure of herself. Buffy shrugged her shoulders, placing the light sphere into the indentation in the pedestal. "Okay, suit yourself."  
  
For a long moment, absolutely nothing happened, but then, that had seemed to be the case with Xander's Trials, too. Then, suddenly, a pillar of white light enveloped the pedestal. One by one, the stars in the ceiling started to burn brighter and brighter, until there was too much light, and Buffy had to shield her eyes.  
  
They felt a quick sense of disorientation, like they'd suddenly been moved so quickly that it took their bodies a moment to catch up. Rikku was first to open her eyes, to look around.  
  
Buffy opened her eyes when she heard Rikku gasp. Her eyes followed the Al Bhed girl's line of sight.   
  
Whatever it was stood twelve feet tall, and was six feet wide. It looked a little like the Oblitzerator that Buffy had fought before. Maybe this was its bigger, meaner, spikier cousin. Something told her that that think launching blitz balls was the least of her worries.  
  
She drew her sword, fixing Rikku with a look. "Oh good choice."

* * *

"They are legends in their own right, though none can remember their names, even on the Farplane. It is as though they are lost to Spira," said Seymour, himself observing the two individuals, as if for the first time.  
  
"The woman is said to be the first black mage in all of Spira. Her powers are said to have rivalled even the greatest of Summoners. Her companion is thought to have been her guardian and protector, her white knight."  
  
"They disappeared long ago," Lulu added. She'd obviously heard the tale. Maybe it had been what motivated her to be a black mage.  
  
"Indeed," Seymour said. "But it was not they that defeated Sin. To defeat the undefeatable Sin… it took an unbreakable bond of love – of the kind that binds two hearts for eternity."  
  
They watched, as Lord Zaon embraced Lady Yunalesca, and they kissed.  
  
"Hey, those two look kinda embarrassed, huh?" Tidus asked Yuna, grinning and pointing to the two unknown figures. Yuna couldn't help but smile at that. Those two really did look embarrassed, the redhead blushing furiously.  
  
The sphere's image vanished, leaving them alone once more.  
  
"There is more that I must show you. Evidence of your coming greatness," Seymour announced. He took Yuna by the hand and led her further into the room.  
  
There, on the wall, was a portrait. It was ancient, by the looks of it, probably older than five hundred years. It depicted one of the High Summoners, Lord Ohalland, and his two guardians.  
  
The man was strict-looking, for a former blitzer, but then, discipline was a part of every Summoner's life. The portrait showed him as a young dark-haired man with a warm smile and warm dark eyes. To his left stood a serene-looking guardian, a warrior monk, if Yuna was any judge.  
  
It was the person standing to Lord Ohalland's right that caught Yuna off-guard. The hair was different – longer, curlier perhaps – but the face remained the same. The green eyes smiling back at the young Summoner were the same. The confidence present, underlying the smile, was the same.  
  
"Buffy," Yuna breathed.  
  
"But that's impossible!" Wakka said. "Unless she's unsent."  
  
"She is not," Seymour said simply. "This woman has played an integral part in every High Summoner's pilgrimage, save Lord Braska's. She is Yevon's messenger in Spira."  
  
That was a lot to take in. That this young woman, Buffy, had been a part of every High Summoner's pilgrimage was stunning. That the Maesters of Yevon considered her a messenger of Yevon was stunning.  
  
And then she remembered the Lost Ones, and their legacy. It was all tied together somehow, she just knew it. If only she could find Buffy, then maybe things would start to make sense again.  
  
Maester Seymour leaned in towards Yuna, close enough so that he could whisper to the young Summoner. "That she has appeared once more, and as your guardian, is portentous, but the journey will still be difficult. Allow me to be your husband, to ease the difficulties you must face on your pilgrimage."  



	14. Home's Hidden Fayth

My note: to answer a question, you should take everything anyone says with a grain of salt. I like playing with semantics and the meanings of words sometimes. I still think this warrants a re-write, but for now I think I'll just stick to finishing it.

* * *

Where Dreams End  
14. Home's Hidden Fayth  
  
Buffy rolled out of the way. A flurry of spiky metal balls slammed into the ground where she had just been.  
  
Rikku had managed to clamber up on top of the mechanised monstrosity, claiming that, as an Al Bhed, she could take any machina apart. The huge machina was moving and shaking wildly, trying to get her off. "How're you doing up there?"  
  
"It's a little difficult right now!" Rikku shouted back, sounding annoyed and hanging on for dear life.  
  
"Tell me about it," Buffy responded, using the flat of her sword to deflect away the long-armed punches that the war machina threw her way. She lashed out in retaliation, her sword leaving a long rent in the machina's armour.  
  
The resulting spasm in the machina was enough to dislodge its unwelcome Al Bhed rider. Rikku was thrown across the room, into Buffy. The two girls slid across the floor in a painful heap, a tangled mess of limbs. Miraculously, Buffy managed to hold onto her sword.  
  
"Ouch," Rikku groaned.  
  
"Move!" Buffy said urgently, her eyes going wide. She shoved Rikku out of the way, rolling in the other direction herself. The stone floor where they'd just been splintered under the weight of a heavy spiked fist.  
  
"I've had just about enough of this," Rikku said, her voice sounding a little petulant.  
  
"So let's do something about it," Buffy said, kick-flipping to her feet. She brought her sword around to a readily defensible position.  
  
"Right!" Rikku nodded, springing to her feet. The Al Bhed girl gasped as Buffy shot forward, bringing her sword around in a brutal arc that separated the machina from one of its arms in a shower of sparks and the scream of shearing, twisting metal.  
  
"Hey," Rikku said. "How come you didn't do that all along?"  
  
"You said you could handle it," Buffy argued. "And I quote, 'I can take care of that machina, lickety-split.' It's still there, you know?"  
  
"It's not like the others we've excavated," Rikku complained, frowning. She jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a volley of heavy metal spiked balls, fired by the war machine. "It's more complicated. It's gonna take time."  
  
"I think," Buffy said, ducking under the machine's other arm as it swung at her. "I'll just take this tin can apart my own way. If it's all the same to you."  
  
Buffy thrust her crimson blade into the machina's armpit, and wrenched it around, twisting the blade to inflict maximum damage to the machine's internal workings. The arm seized violently, then died, leaving this machina with only one weapon: it's cannon.

* * *

"You okay?" Tidus asked Yuna, noticing that she'd gone completely silent, blushing fiercely.  
  
"He… he asked me to marry him!" Yuna breathed quietly. Tidus glanced over at Seymour, then back to his Summoner, a questioning look on his face.  
  
"You serious?" He asked.  
  
He was having trouble wrapping his mind around this. There was so much about Spira that he didn't understand. There was so much about the Summoner and her pilgrimage that he did not understand.  
  
And now this? It didn't make any sense! What was Seymour playing at?  
  
"You know what Yuna must do," Auron said. His statement lingered halfway between threat and question, and hung in the uncertain air a moment.  
  
"Of course," said Seymour, nodding. "Lady Yuna – no, all Summoners are charged with bringing peace to Spira. But this means more than just defeating Sin. She must ease the suffering of all Spira. She must be a leader to the people. I proposed to Lady Yuna as a Maester of Yevon."  
  
"Spira is no playhouse," Auron said gruffly. It was clear that he disagreed with this course of action, though why he disagreed remained uncertain. "A moment's diversion may amuse an audience, but it changes nothing."  
  
"Even so," Seymour argued, his voice deceptively soft. "The actors play their parts." He turned to Yuna. "There's no need to answer right away. Please, think it over."  
  
"We will do so, then," said Auron. "We leave."  
  
Seymour bowed his head slightly. "Lady Yuna. I await your favourable reply." He turned to Auron, frowning slightly. "Why are you still here, sir?"  
  
Auron said nothing, but shot Seymour a questioning look. Tidus had to wonder what it was that Seymour meant by that. "I beg your pardon," the Maester said. "We guado are keen to the scent of the Farplane."  
  
Tidus leaned over towards Auron, sniffing, trying to figure out what exactly Seymour smelled. Auron just shoved him aside, annoyed. It was probably a good thing Buffy wasn't there, Tidus thought to himself, because she would have got a good laugh at his expense.  
  
The Zanarkand Blitzer found his eyes wandering back towards the portrait, towards Buffy's face. She'd been a part of every High Summoner's pilgrimage, except Yuna's dad's. That meant she'd been instrumental in defeating Sin more than once. He found himself going back to her words, her accusation.  
  
"I didn't want to deal with the consequences," Tidus murmured to himself.  
  
"What's that?" Wakka asked.  
  
"It's what Buffy said," Tidus explained, giving his friend and fellow guardian a deeply thoughtful look. "She said she didn't want to deal with the consequences of beating Sin. She said I didn't know what I was talking about."  
  
"Ya," Wakka said, nodding his head.  
  
Tidus found himself turning back towards the portrait. "This… kinda puts things in perspective," Tidus murmured. "If she's been around for all this time, then she has to understand stuff like this a little better than me or you. What if she's right?"  
  
"We all gotta do the best we can, ya?" Wakka suggested, giving Tidus a nervous grin.  
  
"What were the consequences she was talking about?" Tidus asked, though the question was directed more to himself than to Wakka. "Maybe she knows something we don't, you know? Maybe we should listen to her?"  
  
"We'd have to know where she is, first," Auron put in.  
  
"Well, you said she was with an Al Bhed," Tidus said. "Maybe we should go looking for them?"  
  
"Go lookin' for those heathens?" Wakka asked, outraged by the mere suggestion. "You outta your mind?"  
  
"Wakka, they're not all bad," Tidus said. When he'd first arrived in Spira, he'd been alone somewhere cold. An Al Bhed girl named Rikku rescued him from that, so they couldn't all be bad, could they?  
  
"They ignore the teachings!" Wakka argued.  
  
"Nevertheless, if we want to find Buffy, it seems we must first find the Al Bhed," Lulu reasoned coolly. Yuna nodded her agreement quietly.  
  
Maybe this was a good thing, Tidus thought to himself. Maybe Wakka would see that the Al Bhed weren't bad people, that the teachings of Yevon were not absolute. And maybe the shoopuf would learn to fly…

* * *

There were nothing but spare parts left, by the time Buffy finished with the machina. She kicked one of the smaller parts half-heartedly, sending it skipping away across the floor.  
  
"I wonder who built this place," Rikku said, kneeling to examine one of the larger fragments of the machina.  
  
"Why's that important?" Buffy asked.  
  
Now that the war machina was out of the way, she had a better opportunity to look around the room. Like the room they'd previously occupied, this one appeared to be circular. She half expected a door to slide open, now that they'd beaten the machina which had obviously been set there to test them.  
  
No such door appeared.  
  
"Now what?" Rikku wondered.  
  
"Damned if I know," Buffy responded, giving her friend an easy shrug of her shoulders.  
  
"Help me move this," Rikku said, springing energetically to her feet. She ran over to the largest piece left of the machina, in roughly the centre of the room. Grabbing one edge, she tried to shift it, but the machine was simply too heavy.  
  
"Okay," Buffy said, moving to join her. "How come?"  
  
"I think I saw something underneath," Rikku explained. "Before you trashed it and it fell down, you know?" Buffy took hold of one side of the machina's remains and Rikku grabbed the other side, and, together, they managed to move it a little way.  
  
"Hey, you're right," Buffy said, kneeling down to examine the find a little closer.  
  
"Told you!" Rikku crowed victoriously.  
  
"I wonder…" Buffy muttered to herself. There was a hole in the floor, well, not so much a hole as a slot, set into a reflective crimson metal plate. It was six-sided, roughly one and a half inches by half an inch.  
  
Buffy unsheathed her sword, that same weapon she'd recovered from Xander's Cloister of Trials. The blade seemed to match the dimensions of the slot, so she slowly slid the weapon in. When she'd pushed it in all the way up to the hilt, there was a metal clank, like something being unlocked.  
  
The entire floor trembled, and for a moment Buffy thought she'd activated some kind of trap.  
  
"What's going on?" Rikku asked, looking around worriedly.  
  
"I'm not sure," Buffy responded.  
  
"Why'd you put the sword in?" Rikku demanded, her voice nervous. "All the stories are about pulling the sword out of the stone!"  
  
"You guys got that one here too, huh?" Buffy asked conversationally. A brilliant symbol burned its way onto the floor. It seemed to suck all the light from the room. There was nothing except for the light and the two girls.

* * *

Whoever built Xander's place had to have had a hand in this place. There was this weird pulling sensation. I think I passed out again. That's no way to travel.

* * *

Rikku was shaking her when Buffy woke up again. The Slayer slowly sat up, groaning. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the stars that seemed to dance in front of her eyes.  
  
"Were you expecting that?" Rikku asked, a hard edge to her young voice.  
  
"Not really," Buffy responded. She blinked, taking in her surroundings for the first time. They were in a large circular chamber. The walls were of smoothly polished white marble, and there was writing chiselled into them, words that Buffy could understand, that she could read. Her one experience of Yevon's temples led her to believe that they used those strange symbols, rather than real words. "I'm guessing wherever we were going, we arrived?"  
  
"Yeah," said Rikku. "I never knew there was a place like this underneath our noses."  
  
"Yeah, well, there's something like this on the road between Luca and Djose too," said Buffy. "I'm guessing nobody knew about that either."  
  
And there it was, the fayth which slept in the centre of the room. Buffy found herself pulled towards it, drawn. It had to be that same force which drew her down to this hidden location.  
  
"Willow."  



End file.
